Sarah's Story
by jfox99
Summary: It's six years after the World Robattle Cup and a new girl with something to hide has moved into town. Chaos and shenanigans ensue when she meets up with Rokusho, Ikki and the rest.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Medabots

A/N: Hey, just a little information I thought some people might want: 1) this is, when you get right down to it, an OC story, 2) the T rating is basically to be safe, although there is some language and violence, and 3) I have never actually seen the second (or third, depending how you look at it) season, so anything that happens there will not be in here (if it is it is by coincidence). Thank you.

**Chapter 1**

One of the walls to the house had been totally destroyed and a fire had begun to spread throughout the entire building. The entire street resembled a war zone, all the houses in similar forms of destruction. Screams could be heard in the distance, along with the sound of running feet and machines.

Other houses in the area had already caught on fire when a gust of wind came, turning the fire in the one house into a blaze. The sky had a reddish tint, from the fire or the setting sun anyone who had the time to look would have been unable to tell.

Two women came out of the broken wall. One was an elderly lady, the other much younger. From their faces, one could tell they were related, most likely mother and daughter. The younger woman was clutching something large and blanket wrapped, which she handed off to the older woman.

"Mother, quickly, take Sarah and go hide," the woman pleaded, pushing the older woman away from the house.

Clutching the two year old to her, the older women stumbled forward then turned around. "But Umeko, what about you? And Tom? You two must come, before those...those machines get you," she choked out the last words, her fear beginning to overcome her.

Umeko gave her mother another push away from the burning house, gentler this time. "Do not worry Mother. Tom and I will be fine. We have to see if we can do anything for Rambot and Hop. All you need to worry about is getting yourself and Sarah to safety."

Umeko's mother gave her daughter a look of disgust. "Why do you two worry about those robots? They're the ones who started this, them and the rest of like them, suddenly going berserk like that. Leave them and get Tom. Then we can all go."

Umeko smiled sadly at her mother. The older woman would never understand how she and Tom felt about their medabots. Her father had, but he had died the year before. If only he was here, she knew things would not be so difficult with her mother at that moment.

She gave her mother a quick kiss, then leaned down to give her sleeping daughter a quick peck on the check as well. Luckily the girl was somehow sleeping through all the chaos. "Tom and I'll catch up with you once we take care of Rambot and Hop. Until we meet back up, I want you to take care of Sarah." Umeko glanced behind her, back at the burning house. She could swear she saw something move in the flames.

She turned back to her mother, urgency in her voice. "Go. Now. We'll all see each other again, I promise." With that, Umeko rushed off into the burning building. Her mother watched for a brief moment as her only child disappeared behind the flames. She then turned and ran, the sleeping child clutched in her arms.

Eight Years Later:

Sarah sat in front of the television and glanced over her shoulder. Her grandmother shouldn't be home for awhile. Hopefully enough time to catch at least most of the America verses Japan match. Checking over her shoulder again, as if her grandmother would materialize out of thin air, Sarah turned on the television.

The blond ten year old sat excitedly on the couch, watching the screen light up. She then quickly turned on the channel that her grandmother had forbidden her to watch. It would only be broadcasting news on the World Robattle Cup until the event was over, something that Sarah's grandmother hated.

"….You for watching this match with us, Channel 29," the American announcer's voice came over the speakers. Sarah quickly turned down the volume to a whisper. Just what she would need was for all her careful planning to be ruined by her grandmother to come in and hearing the robattle because the volume was too loud.

"Well, today is the day that we find out who will be facing our current world champions, Team Kenya. The winner of this match goes on to face them in the finals and is one step closer to being crowned champions." Sarah listened eagerly. She had been unable to see any of the tournament so far, even over the internet, what with her grandmother tried so hard to keep her away from anything doing with medabots and all. She had heard a little about what was going on from her friends at school, all of whom knew about her grandmother's hatred for the battling robots.

"Now, now, Ed. No assuming that Kenya's going to win. They haven't even had their match with Team Iceland yet," the other announcer's voice came over the television set. Sarah watched as the screen showed the crowded stadium. The stands were packet with both people and medabots, all looking exited to be witnessing the event first hand. Sarah sighed. She could only hope that one day she could be in those stands, or better yet, one of the medafighters the people had come to watch.

"Just sayin' what everyone is thinkin'. Anyway, if we're placing bets on who's making it to the finals, I must say I've got my money on Team Japan. Most of them may be kids, but they've got some powerful medabots. At least one of them can use the medaforce, so there's an extra bonus right there." Sarah listened eagerly. Her friends had mentioned this medaforce thing when telling her about some of the past battles. From what she could tell it was some kind of super powerful attack. Her friends hadn't known much, and they had been able to explain little about it. Apparently it was something you had to see for yourself.

"Come on Ed, good ol' Team America has a bit more experience under its belt. I think they have this one in the bag," the announcer paused. "Well, we'll be seeing soon folks. Both teams are going to be entering the stadium any second now." The camera view had switched from the stands to the robattle ring in the center of the stadium. Sarah could see a man in referee uniform and large grey mustache standing near it. In the background, Sarah saw a number of men who resembled police officers, something she found very odd. Her attention was draw from the oddity when the announcers began to talk about the teams again.

"So, for all of you people who've been living in a box and don't know who is competing in today's semifinal match, let me inform you. For Team America we have Joe Swihan, J-Girl, and Glen. All will be robattling with Wigwamo." Sarah waited impatiently to get to the Japanese team. Even if she had been living in a box when it came to the tournament, she knew who was on the American team and all about their Medabots. Wigwamo, specialty speed, NTB type, blah, blah, blah. She wanted to see the Japanese Team. They were the mystery to her, and when it came to medabots, she hated mysteries. The fact that two of the team members where her age and one never seemed to use the same medabot only increased her interest.

"For Team Japan," came the other announcer's voice, "We have Ikki Tenryou, battling with Metabee, Koji Karakuchi, battling with Sumilidon, and finally, Space Medafighter X, battling with Arcbeetle."

Sarah watched as Team America entered the stadium. Then came the moment she had been looking forward to. Team Japan was just about to enter…A car door slammed in the driveway. Shoot, just when things were going to start.

Sarah dived for the remote control and turned off the television. She was picking up a book she had left out in case this happened, hoping that her grandmother would suspect that she had been doing little more then reading the entire time she was gone.

The front door opened and shut and foot steps came in the direction of the room Sarah was in. The ten year old pushed her glasses back up her nose, for they had started to slip down in all the excitement. Sarah opened the book and began to mimic the act of reading, although none of the words registered. She was too scared that she would get caught.

An elderly lady walked up to the doorway, holding a large grocery bag. She was of medium height and looked like a thin person who had gained some weight in their old age, her face wrinkled. The wrinkles were not the kind of a grandmother who smiled and made cookies however. They were the kind that came to those who had a tendency to frown. Those, along with the horn-rimmed glasses added to the sever look on the woman's face. The look of severity was added to by an unwrinkled blouse and long skirt, both in muted colors. A pair shoes that could only be described as "sensible" completed the look.

"Hello Grandma. How did the shopping go?" Sarah greeted her grandmother, hoping her guilt did not show.

Her grandmother frowned. "Fine. I ran into Miss. Yolen while I was there and we talked for a bit," she replied. She gave Sarah an appraising glance. "What have you been doing while I was gone?" she inquired in the voice that all caregivers use to extract information from the young.

"Nothing much. Just reading this book." Sarah held up the book in question. Her grandmother simply narrowed her eyes.

"Oh really." Sarah's grandmother walked over to the remote that Sarah had thrown back onto the coffee table. Too late, Sarah realized the one mistake she had made. In her haste, she had been holding the book upside down. And her grandmother would find out what channel Sarah had been watching because the girl had also forgot to switch the channel before turning the television off.

Sarah's grandmother pressed the power button and watched grimly as the screen came to life.

"And there they go. Look at Team America. Starting off with a swift attack, right from the-" the rest of the sentence was cut short as the television was switched back off. Sarah looked sadly at her grandmother's back. She hadn't even gotten to see any of the robattle, even a little glimpse just then because the old woman had been standing in front of the screen. And she knew she would still be punished.

Slowly, Sarah's grandmother turned around. Her face had become clouded with rage and when she spoke, her voice shook from the suppressed anger.

"Sarah," she began, "how many times must you be told? Are you stupid? Should I maybe say it in Japanese?" Sarah shook her head, knowing that her grandmother just might start reprimanding her in the language of her grandmother's childhood, which Sarah had learned at a young age.

"Well then, let me repeat things for you slowly," her grandmother continued. "You are to have nothing to do with those wicked machines. They killed your parents and they corrupt minds and they are dangerous." Sarah just nodded in agreement, while, in her heart, she knew her grandmother was wrong. Medabots were peoples' friends. They were wonderful and there to help. Sometimes things went wrong, but that was no reason to act in the way her grandmother was.

The old lady had finally come to her verdict. "You will go to your room right now. No dinner for you tonight. Before that, I want you to bring me down that laptop of yours. I don't want you to be watching that medabot junk over the internet."

"Yes Grandma," Sarah answered meekly. Luckily, she had suspected that if she was caught her grandmother would give her this punishment. It was a favorite of her grandmothers. So, Sarah had eaten a large lunch and snuck some food up to her room. She would not go hungry and her grandmother would think that she was being taught that anything to do with medabots led to bad things.

"You'll understand one day Sarah," her grandmother said. "When you do, you'll thank me."

Yeah right, Sarah thought, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. With that, she trudged up the stares to her room. Her grandmother came up a few minute s later to collect the laptop Sarah had "forgotten" to bring down.

Six Years Later:

A slender girl of sixteen peddled a bicycle in the slight light of dawn. The long blond hair not trapped under a helmet flew behind her. She rode like someone with much experience on a bike, but little with the terrain. Her long, jean covered legs pumped the peddles that her gym shoe covered feet were squarely placed on. Light hazel eyes glanced through a pair of glasses at the sidewalk in front of her. The weather was still warm, so she was wearing a brown T-shirt to complete her outfit. A used backpack was secured into a basket on the front of the bike.

Sarah glanced at one of the street sings she sped past. Good, she was going the right way, towards the high school.

She sighed as she peddled the bike, an old but sturdy contraption she had been ridding to her various schools since she was eleven. She had hated the bus when she was younger and her grandmother had eventually allowed her to travel to school on the bike. She had finally gotten a drivers license over in America during the summer and it was valid here in Japan, but her grandmother refused to let her get a car. Or drive one for that matter. After she had done the driving needed to get a license, Sarah's grandmother had stopped allowing her granddaughter to drive. Another of her crazy schemes to keep her granddaughter from medabots, Sarah figured.

So, here she was, peddling a bike to her high school, early in the morning to make sure she had enough time to get there and not have to worry too much if she got a little lost. And why was she worrying about getting lost on her way to school? Because, her grandmother had moved them yet again and she was going to yet another new school.

They had moved to Japan about two years ago. Those first two years had been spent in the suburbs near Tokyo, the summer vacations during her ninth and tenth grade years being spent in America in some of the places she had once lived. During those two summers, she had learned to drive and get a license; an effort that Sarah was beginning to believe had been a total waste.

Before they had moved to Japan, Sarah and her grandmother had moved around the States a lot, roughly every two years. Sarah suspected it was another of her grandmother's schemes to stop her from having anything to do with medabots (efforts that had been, like the license, a complete waste). So, after already having a rather unstable childhood, her grandmother had decided to make things in Sarah's life even more chaotic by moving them both to Japan, the county of the old woman's birth.

Since Sarah was a relative, she was technically a citizen, so the only problem they had faced in moving had been in getting Sarah's dog into the country. Once that issue had been settled, they had moved into a suburb near Tokyo and Sarah had begun school there. The teenager had hoped they could stay there until she had finished high school. At which time she could finally get away from the old coot and live her life the way she wanted.

That never happened however. The Incident, as her grandmother referred to it, had happened just before they had left for America on vacation. When they had gotten back, Sarah had been informed that they were moving. Again.

And now she was heading for yet another new school, this one already a week into things. And she had to get up extra early, not only to find her way there, but because her grandmother had picked a house out in a wooded area a little way from the town, leaving Sarah with an extra long bike ride if she wanted to get to school on time.

Sarah hoped that once she got a pattern down, she wouldn't need to get up so early. She needed her sleep, especially if her late night escapades continued. She yawned, thinking about the piece of luck that had happened when they moved to the new house.

Sarah had been out, checking the local woods with her large mutt, Rembrandt. A reasonable distance from the house, they had found a little building that resembled a shed. When Sarah had inspected it closer, she could tell that no one had been in the building for years. By some random stroke of luck, the building had still been in a rather good condition, despite the weeds that grew around it and its obvious age. The door had been locked, so Sarah and Rembrandt had headed back to their new house.

The next day, the man who had sold the house came over while Sarah's grandmother was away. He was in a hurry, so he had dropped a key off with Sarah, saying it belonged to an old tool shed that was a ways back in the woods that was actually on the house's property. When asked why it was so far from the house, the man had said it had been built there because one of the previous owners had liked to get away from it all and build things.

When the man had left, Sarah knew the key was a sing. If it belonged to the building she had found, that meant her grandmother had bought a lot of property. And if that was true, chances were she planned to stay in the area for awhile. It also gave Sarah an idea. She pocketed the key, and did not tell her grandmother about it later that day when she had come home from singing Sarah up for school.

That night, she had waited until she thought her grandmother was asleep. She then set up her bed to look like she was still sleeping in it and gotten dressed. When that was done, Sarah had crept down the stairs, followed by Rembrandt. The two of then had snuck out the back door and headed quickly for the tool shed. When they had reached the door about twelve minutes later, Sarah had paused. What she planned to do could get her in more trouble then she had ever been in, except maybe when the Incident had happened. But if she did go through with it, she might just be able to do what she wanted to.

Deciding the risk was worth it, Sarah had slipped the key out of her pocket and shoved it into the keyhole. A brief moment of depression when the key would not turn was followed by joy when some added pressure caused the door to unlock.

Entering, Sarah found the tool shed actually had working electricity, a welcomed surprise. Even better, the building was the size of a small bedroom, had two large tables, one each on the walls to her left and right, and, to top everything off, those same walls were already set up to hold a plethora of tools.

Sarah was overjoyed. The tool shed only needed a bit of a cleaning, and the place would be perfect of what she planned to use it for.

What she planned to use it for would be the difficult part. What she planned to do was turn it into a low scale version of a medabot mechanic work shop. She could bring all of her carefully hidden medabot notes here. And the walls were the perfect place for all of her equally well hidden tools and medabot repair supplies. If she got lucky there would be a local scrap yard that would sell old medabot parts for cheap. If she could get her hands on those, Sarah knew she could make them as good as new. And if her luck kept, she might even be able to build her own medabot.

Over the next couple of nights, Sarah got the shed ready for her purpose. She cleaned the place up and brought in her tools and notes. She did not have many notes to bring over because she often put any medabot notes she had onto a flash drive. It was easier to hide from her grandmother that way.

Last night, Sarah had finished setting the place up and had gotten home in time to get a few hours of sleep. And now here she was, exhausted because she had needed to get up before dawn to get to school.

Sarah looked ahead and saw the school in the distance. Putting on an extra burst of speed, she reached the gates, a sing overhead proclaiming the school's name: Riverview High School. Once on the grounds, she dismounted the bike and took her helmet off. Dropping the helmet onto her backpack, Sarah pushed the bike further onto the campus, looking for a bike rack. She spotted one near the entrance. Not one of her favorite places to put a bike, but better then having nowhere to lock it up at.

Sarah locked up the bike with a new chain, then pulled a hair brush out of her backpack. If riding a bike for years had taught her one thing, it was that she always suffered from terrible helmet hair. She gave her hair the few quick swipes it needed to look presentable, then had a look around.

There were a few sings that some other students were already in the building, but Sarah could still tell she was insanely early. Oh well. The principal had requested that she get to school early so she could go over her schedule and such. She just had to hope the principal got to school as early as she had.

Sighing, Sarah stuffed the brush and helmet into her backpack. The helmet caused an odd lump, but she had nowhere else to put it until she got a locker. Sighing again, Sarah swung the pack onto her shoulder and trudged into the building.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Ikki sat at his desk, hurriedly answering math problems. He was figuring something out on his calculator when a brown haired girl burst into the room. The commotion caused the few people in the class to look up. When they all saw it was simply Erika, they all went back to their previous activities.

Ikki glanced over at his childhood friend. "Erika, let me see you math. I never finished mine last night," he said before turning back to his homework.

Erika pulled a notebook out of her backpack and held it out to Ikki. Right before he grabbed it however, she snatched it away. She looked up at the ceiling, tapping her chin with the notebook. "Now, what's in it for me?"

Ikki sighed. "Come on Erika, I need to get this done before Mr. Suda gets here." When he realized she would not budge on the issue, he gave in. "Fine. How about I take your cleaning duty today? Will that get me your homework?"

"It will indeed," Erika replied, handing the notebook over to Ikki. She sat on the desk in front of him, putting her feet on the chair so they could face each other. "So, what are you doing here so early?"

Ikki, copying the answers, replied, "Metabee got me up early. I was doing a tune up last night and he has to use some extra medaparts. You know how he is."

Erika chuckled, thinking of the friendship between Ikki and his medabot, a hot head who hated not having a body. The two had a tendency to fight like an old married couple, but when all was said and done they got along wonderfully. "I know how Metabee can be. That still doesn't explain why he got you up though."

"Well, his right arm took some bad damage in our last robattle, so I decided to do the tune up while I fixed the arm. I just can't fix the arm though. So I left it for the night and Metabee got me up this morning, hoping I could fix it." Ikki yawned, covering his mouth with the hand that was not busy writing. "As if I had a better chance when I could barley keep my eyes open. After I explained to him I'd just have to take the part to Dr. Aki later toady, I was to awake to go back to bed. So I got ready for school and came here."

"Oh, that means you won't be able to help me with my newest story," Erika said sadly. Ikki just rolled his eyes. Erika had been set on becoming a reporter as long as he had known her and that had not changed once they reached high school. She was already the editor for the school paper.

There was an expectant silence coming from Erika's direction. Without even looking up, Ikki supplied the waited for question, "So, what is your latest story about Erika?"

"You'll find this interesting. My sources tell me-"

Ikki groaned. "Are these the same sources that told you about Coach

Lacky being a clown for a traveling circus during summer break? Or about the ghost in the third floor chem lab?"

Erika harrumphed, "My sources are reliable. Besides, it's not like I printed those stories or anything."

"Yeah, you just made me waste my time trying to help you prove them right."

"Whatever Ikki. So, do want to hear what's going on or what?"

Ikki sat back in his chair, the math done. "Fine, let's get it over with."

Erika chose to ignore Ikki's comment and began again. "Well, from what I hear, we're getting a new student. She used to live in Tokyo and all over America before that. I haven't found anything else out yet, but I plan to interview her later." She held her hands out as if she could see the headline already. "'Mysterious Girl Reveals All.'"

Ikki just gave Erika a look and handed her notebook back. "Okay, okay," she said, "Maybe it could use some work, but still, a nice idea on the whole."

"It's not the headline, although I'll admit that could use some work." Erika just frowned, even though she had voiced the criticism first. "I'm just trying to figure out what any of this has to particularly do with me."

"I thought it was obvious. The new girl will be joining your class. I won't be able to find anything out about her until lunch at the soonest. I'm leaving up to you to find out about her. That way, I'll be informed when I interview her."

"Oh, come on Erika!" Ikki complained. His protests briefly caught the attention of people in the room, which had filled up since Erika had first gotten there.

"Ikki, are you trying to stop me from being the best reporter possible? Just do it, and don't complain." Orders given, Erika left for her class. The bell was about to ring soon, and she didn't plan on being late.

Ikki sunk deeper into his chair and sighed. Age hadn't changed Erika's bossy streak, and it defiantly had not offered Ikki any wisdom on how to deal with it.

Moodily he pulled a medabot catalog out of his backpack and began to read, waiting for class to begin.

Sarah sat in a vaguely uncomfortable chair in the principal's office, watching the man shuffle through her papers. She noticed he wore a medawatch on his right wrist. She gave the room a quick glance, but did not see any sings of the medabot. He must leave it at home, she mused.

"Well," the principal began, interrupting her thoughts, "everything seems to be in order. I see you have an excellent academic record, Miss. Farmer. One of our schools greatest prides is the students' academics, so you should fit in wonderfully." Sarah noticed the last sentence sounded as if it were a rehearsed line. Not that much of a surprise. It seemed to be something they taught principals to say the world over.

"Thank you very much sir," Sarah replied modestly.

He glanced at the papers again. "I do notice that you had planned to take an advanced mechanics course at your previous school." Sarah nodded, waiting for the usual comment about her class choice seeming unusual for someone such as herself. All principals seemed to make that comment on at least one of her classes, then try to convenience her to take a more "suitable" class choice. That usually meant some kind of advanced core class.

That was why his opening statement was not too much of a surprise. "We do offer that class, but I feel we have one that would be more suited to what seem to be your personal skills and interests," he said, glancing at a different set of papers. His next statement was the one that threw her. "From what I can tell by past comments of previous teachers and principals of yours, I feel secure in the choice of having you taking our M Mechanics and Repair class. This is the first year we'll be offering the class, so bear with us for any problems we have."

Sarah was a bit shocked. It sounded as if she was still taking a mechanics class, so that was good. She wondered what the M stood for however. For a brief moment she thought it could stand for medabot, but she dismissed the notion. No school was ever so wonderful that it offered a class on medabots, let alone one she could get into.

Before she could ask what the M stood for, the principal stood up. "You know where your locker is. Take your things there, then meet me back in front of the office. I'll being taking you down to your classroom, room," he glanced at a paper again, "room 11-C. No dawdling now."

Sarah quickly gathered her things and then headed out of the office, looking at a small map of the school she had been given. Once she had left, the principal looked at her papers again, particularly the one with comments from past teachers. One teacher seemed to have summed it up the best:

Sarah is a delight to teach and has an easy time learning. She shows great interest and talent for things dealing with medabots. It is a real shame her grandmother seems to forbid her from having one. Someone should see if they can do anything. I've tried talking to the woman but that seems ineffective.

The principal sighed. He hoped he had done the right thing.

Mr. Suda had just taken the class attendance when there was a knock on the door. "Everyone take out your math homework while I see who this is." He walked over to the door. When he opened it, the principal was standing there with a girl he had never seen before. She was standing with such an unobtrusive manner that he would never have noticed her if she hadn't been a good three inches taller then the principal.

"Can I help you sir?"

"Yes. If you could just step out here for a minuet." Suda walked out of the room, closing the door behind him. He knew some of his students would eavesdrop, but he figured he might as well make things a bit more difficult for them.

"You remember the new student I told you about?" the principal asked. Suda nodded. "Well, this is her. Her name is Sarah Farmer. Sarah, this will be your teacher, Mr. Suda," the principal stood out of the way, letting Suda get a good look at his newest student.

"A pleasure to meet you Miss. Farmer," Suda said, offering his hand in greeting.

The blond took the offered hand and shook back lightly. "It is very nice to meet you as well sir," she replied in a quiet voice.

"Well, if you can handle things from here Suda, I think I'll be getting back to my office." Before the teacher could respond, the principal had walked off.

"Looks like I'm to introduce you to the class," commented the Suda. "Well, come on Miss. Farmer." He reentered the class, Sarah close behind. He noticed that all of his students were sitting in a far too innocent way.

"For those of you who weren't listening at the door, it is my pleasure to inform you that we have a new student joining us," he commented, indicating Sarah. "I'll let her introduce herself."

Sarah stood in front of the class, as she had at numerous other schools. "My name is Sarah Farmer. I am sure I will enjoy getting to know all of you," she said quietly.

Mr. Suda looked at her expectantly. When she didn't continue, he prompted her. "Is there anything else you would like to tell us? Some interests or hobbies maybe?"

This was a question Sarah had come to dread. If she didn't give enough information about herself to satisfy the teacher, the questioning always came to one particular topic. Medabots.

"Well, I, uhh…I'm left handed, I take karate, and am extremely nearsighted." it was an answer that normally got her off the hook in similar situations to the one she was currently in. She would just have to hope it worked again.

It did. "Karate? Really? How long have you been in karate?" Mr. Suda asked.

Sarah was glad the topic was on something she was comfortable answering, so she responded without hesitation. "I've been doing karate since I was about six. So, that means for about ten years now. I have to stop until I can find a dojo around here that will take me."

"Very interesting. Well, I'm sure everyone will enjoy getting to know you." Mr. Suda glanced around the room until he spotted an empty desk. "You can sit in the desk by Samantha. Samantha, raise your hand, so Sarah knows who you are."

A brown haired girl raised her hand. Sarah noticed she was dressed in a very tomboyish fashion and had a pair of sunglasses hanging around her neck. She then spotted the empty desk was to the girl's right, next to the window.

Sarah quickly headed over to the seat, glad to stop being stared at by the class. Mr. Suda then began the class, forcing Sarah to scramble quickly into her bag for a notebook and a pencil. Luckily they were just reviewing some basics from algebra one and geometry, so Sarah did not have to worry about having missed anything.

She went through math, then three other classes, her teachers changing instead of the room. She had to get caught up in the other three, but so little had been gone over that first week, it was no real problem for her. Once those classes were over, it was time for lunch.

When the lunch bell rang, Sarah headed quickly for her locker and grabbed the lunch she had brought. It was only a sandwich, a bottle of water and an apple, so she ate quickly. After that, she grabbed her things and headed for the library she had seen on the school map. She was looking forward to some time on a computer she didn't have to worry about her grandmother checking to make sure she had not been on anything involving medabots.

"Well Ikki, what'd you find out?" Erika had come from her class room next door so that she could question Ikki while they ate.

Ikki swallowed, then answered, "Not much. Her name's Sarah Farmer." He shoveled some more food into his mouth while Erika wrote his information down in a little notepad.

"Anything else? Come on Ikki, that can't be all."

"Erika, do I seriously have to tell you about her? I feel like a spy or something." While Erika and Ikki were talking, Samantha had come up behind them.

The raspy voiced girl interrupted. "I can tell you about the new girl Erika," she volunteered.

Erika looked at Samantha suspiciously. "What's in it for you? You get to copy my science homework for the rest of the year or something?"

Samantha waved her hand dismissively, "Please Erika. I have Sloan for that. No what I want you to do is take my classroom cleaning duty next week."

"Why not just get one of your lackeys to do it?" Ikki said through a mouthful of food.

"Because I need their help training for a robattle," Samantha said, her quick temper flaring.

"You've got a deal Samantha. Ikki can do it for me." The two shook hands to seal the bargain.

"What?" spluttered Ikki, nearly choking on his food.

"You heard me," replied Erika. "If you had just told me what I wanted to know from the beginning, you wouldn't have this problem."

"I wouldn't have this problem if you didn't always stick me with everything you don't want to do. You can take care of this one yourself," Ikki complained.

"I can't be expected to give up my time for something like cleaning a classroom. I could miss an important news story," Erika countered, "And I'm not going to let that happen just because you won't tell me anything. So that means you're doing it. Now be quiet." She turned to Samantha, notepad at the ready.

"Well," began Samantha, sitting in the desk next to Erika, "She's left handed and has been practicing karate for ten years. Also, she is extremely nearsighted." Samantha sat back, looking like an expert who has just given some valuable information to the uninformed.

"Is that all?" Erika complained. Ikki just rolled his eyes at how ridicules the entire situation was.

"She rushed out of here just before you came in. She was headed towards the library I think. Didn't talk to anybody while she inhaled a lunch she brought. She seems really quiet," Samantha added.

"Come on Samantha, is that all you've got? I could have found that all out myself. Haven't you heard anything else?"

Samantha leaned in closer to her classmates. "Spyke saw her coming in insanely early this morning. He said she rode a bike in."

"Wait," Ikki interrupted, "Why was Spyke here so early?" From what Ikki knew, Spyke might be a horrible medafighter, but he did pretty well in academics, so it was not as if he had to come in early for tutoring.

"That's none of your business," Samantha said angrily. She didn't want to admit they had both been there earlier, Spyke helping her study for one of her classes. It was embarrassing that she had needed the help, let alone Spyke's.

"Is that all Samantha?" Erika asked, seeming a bit more satisfied with the information she had been able to gather.

"There is this rumor going around." Samantha looked around, to make sure no one was listening. "I heard that she used to live in Tokyo but had to move away because she beat someone up so badly they had to go to the hospital. So she had to move out her to try and escape the police or something."

Ikki laughed loudly, briefly attracting the attention Samantha had been trying to avoid. Both girls glared at him. "Oh come on. That's insane. No one really believes that do they?"

"I wouldn't judge her just yet Ikki," Erika said darkly. "The quietest people can be the meanest sometimes."

"You haven't even met her yet Erika," Ikki reminded her.

"I will be," Erika said, standing up. When the other two gave her confused looks, she elaborated. "I'm heading to the library to see if she's there. I plan to get that interview since there's enough time left before classes start again."

"Well, just don't get up in her face about stuff Erika," Ikki warned. "You can get pretty intense when you interview people."

"Oh, don't worry," Erika replied as she left the room.

**-------------------------**

**A/N:**Fist off, I'd like to thank showblade for both the welcome and the review, I appreciated both greatly. Second, I just want to let everyone know I plan to update every Friday or Saturday. I figured I'd let everyone know in case anyone was wondering (probably not, but what the heck). Anyway, thanks to everyone for reading.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Sarah logged off the computer and stretched. She had enjoyed her time surfing the web, getting up to date on some of the latest medabot news and watched some robattle clips people had put up. It was good to be back in school, if only so she could have this little worry free time to enjoy informing herself about the thing she loved.

Sarah got up, pushing her chair in as she left the computer. Any nerves or anger she had felt at being in another new place, surrounded by new people, had evaporated in the peaceful time she had spent in the library.

Deciding that she might as well get something to read while she was there, Sarah went over to the nearest set of shelves. They were filled with interesting looking fiction books, all in Japanese. Luckily, her grandmother had taught her not only how to speak the language at a young age, but how to read it as well. It had been one of the good things the old woman had done for her.

Feeling her bad mood returning, Sarah forgot about her grandmother and selected a book off of the shelf at random. She was reading the summery intently when someone tapped her on the shoulder, causing her to jump a little.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," came a female voice from behind her.

Behind her stood a brown haired girl, a bit shorter then Sarah. The girl was wearing the outfit common of people their age. That is to say, she was wearing a pair of jeans, a T-shirt, pink in this case, and tennis shoes.

The girl held out her hand and Sarah shook it. "I'm Erika," she said.

"I'm Sarah. Was there something you wanted?"

"Yeah actually," replied Erika, "You see, I'm the editor of the school paper and I was wondering if I could have an interview." She held up her notepad and a pencil as if they explained anything else Sarah was unsure of.

"I, uhh, guess so," Sarah replied awkwardly. She was used to having people be curious when she came to a new school, that was normal, but no one ever asked to interview her before. She hoped that the questioning did not come to any awkward topics.

Those hopes were dashed with the first question. "So," Erika began, "I heard you used to live in Tokyo. Was there any particular reason your family moved here?"

Briefly, Sarah marveled at how quickly news spread. She had only told that to secretary, although another student might have been in the office at the time. Sarah knew she wasn't the most observant person first thing in the morning.

Quickly however, Sarah thought of an answer that sounded reasonable, but was as far from the truth as she could get. "Well, I live with my grandmother. Grandma wanted to move." The best lies contain a grain of truth, she mused. She continued with her fabrication, her mind only a few steps ahead of what she was saying. "She was getting sick of living near a big city, said she wanted to move somewhere that reminded her of her hometown. She said a smaller community would be good for me, or something like that."

Erika wrote all of what she had been told in the notepad. Sarah watched nervously, looking for any sings that her story had not been believed. It seemed that it was because Erika continued her questions, on a slightly less uncomfortable path. "You live with your grandmother? What about your parents? Or siblings?"

"It's just Grandma and me. My parents died when I was two." Before Erika could say anything, Sarah quickly added, "But I have a dog too. So, we all sort of make one big family." Sarah purposely left out the "happy" in that sentence. She didn't feel like lying more then was necessary.

For a few seconds Erika looked put off. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't…I mean I wasn't trying to…"

"Don't worry about it," Sarah reassured her. "It's not like it happened last week or anything. I've had quite awhile to come to terms with the fact they're not around anymore."

"Oh, right, right," Erika cleared her throat, "Well, then. I have, ahhh, also heard that you happen to take karate. Would you mind telling me why you got started?"

"My grandmother thought I needed to do something with my spare time, and she figured I could learn something useful instead of playing soccer or something, so she enrolled me in karate classes." Sarah sighed. "It's fine and all, but it can get a little tiresome having to find a new dojo every time we move. She sort of requires I take karate, before you ask why I keep doing it if it's such a pain."

Erika nodded, industriously writing on the notepad. "It sounds like you've moved a lot. Where else have you lived?"

"I actually used to live in America. That's where I was born," Sarah added before continuing, "We moved from state to state, so I got to see a pretty good chunk of the country. There was a time a few years back when we traveled abroad for awhile. I was home schooled when that was going on."

"That's all very interesting. So, I'm guessing you speak a lot of different languages."

"Not really. I used to be able to speak a bit of Spanish and French, but I can't remember much anymore. I was, like, eleven, when we were traveling. I really just speak English and Japanese."

"It must make your language class easier at any rate." Sarah just shrugged. Her required foreign language class was next, so she would see.

"Just a few more questions. I was wondering, what type of medabot do you have? You seem like you would go for one that specializes in hand to hand combat, or at least close range weapons. With the karate and all I mean."

Sarah suddenly froze. That was the question she had dreaded. She had become rather good at hiding the fact that she did not have a medabot. It always got out eventually however. And with practically everyone but the very young and very old having a medabot, people started treating her oddly when they found out. As if her state of medabotlessness was contagious. It probably never helped that by that time most people had found out her grandmother was a total nut case, likely to turn their medabots to scrap as soon as look at them. She planned to put that all off for as long as possible seeing as it made making friends a bit difficult.

"I'm sorry, but I've got to go. I have to check this book out and go find my next class," Sarah said hurriedly, walking away.

"Wait," said Erika, following her. "Just wait, and let me finish. I can show you to your next class if you want."

Sarah picked up the backpack she had left by her vacated computer, then went over to the checkout desk. She noticed Erika was still following her. "No that's okay. I don't want to put you out or anything. I'm sure you have enough information anyway."

Sarah handed the book over to the librarian, pulling the school map out of her pocket as she waited. Erika was about to protest again when the librarian handed the book back to Sarah. "Well, bye. It was nice talking to you," Sarah said with false cheerfulness before walking off.

Erika was about to follow when she decided against it. Frowning, she walked out of the library herself, noticing that Sarah had already disappeared down another hallway. Grumpily, she walked backed to Ikki's class.

Ikki was talking to some friends when Erika came storming back into the class. Seeing her, the other guys all scattered. Erika's temper had become nearly legendary, and no one wanted to be on the receiving end of it.

"Hey Erika," Ikki said nervously. "Anything the matter?" He knew he would regret the answer before he finished asking the question.

"Yes," Erika replied. She plopped into a recently vacated seat next to Ikki.

"Well, if you want to tell me, I'd hurry up," said Ikki looking hopefully at the clock. "We've only got about five more minutes."

"You know I went to interview that new girl, Sarah. Well I headed to the library first, like I said I would, and-"

"Let me guess," interrupted Ikki, "she wasn't there and you wasted your time scouring the school for her."

"No," snapped Erika, "Now, don't interrupt. I actually did find her. She was looking at books. I asked her if I could have an interview-"

"And she said no," Ikki interrupted again.

Erika just glared at him before continuing. "She said yes. Things were going okay, and then I asked her about her medabot. She got all flustered and ran off. I had a feeling she was hiding something before that, but this just proves it."

_Don't say it, don't say it_, Ikki prayed. "And I'm going to find out what," Erika finished. _Drat._

"Maybe you should just drop it Erika," Ikki offered, hoping to change her mind. He knew very well that if she did try to find out what Sarah's secret was, and he doubted she had one, he would somehow get dragged into it.

"I will not 'drop it.' That girl is hiding something. She could be a spy or something."

"A spy for who?" Ikki asked, glancing at the clock again.

"I don't know yet. That's why I have to find out what she's hiding. And you can-" Erika was suddenly cut off by the bell, signaling that everyone should get to their classes.

"See ya, Erika," Ikki said cheerily. He had literally just been saved by the bell.

Happily, he took out his supplies for the next class. He wouldn't have to go to another room for an hour, so he didn't have to follow Erika out. A good thing to, because he was sure she would have finished that last sentence.

Only one more class, Sarah thought excitedly. She looked at her schedule, then checked that she had reached the right room. It was the M mechanics and repair class, and she was interested in finding out what it was about.

Timidly, she opened the door and looked around the room. She was early, so the only people in there were a couple of students from the last class, putting things away, and the teacher.

Looking at the room itself, Sarah saw that the classroom looked very little like the others she had been in so far. First of all, the room was huge, the size of at least two and a half of the other class rooms combined. Also, instead of desks, there were ten large, metal work tables spaced evenly in the room. There were only two chairs at each table, so it looked like there was going to be a small class compared to the others she had been in.

Stepping into the room, Sarah saw there were a number of tools and wires and all sorts of other things stored in bins near the walls. She then looked over at the one wall all of the chairs were facing. This one was covered in a large flat surface, a space perfect for the projector she noticed attached to the ceiling to cast its images onto. Looking around, she saw a messy desk with a computer on it that she assumed was the teacher's.

"Okay you guys, get to class. Everything looks fine," said the teacher, a short man who appeared to be in his early thirties. He had light brown, unkempt hair and hazel eyes set in a pleasant face. Sarah had seen pictures of her father and the man reminded her of one she had seen, except her father had blond hair.

"Excuse me, sir?" Sarah finally decided to catch the instructor's attention.

He turned around, as if he hadn't known she was there. "Oh, hello. Who are you?" Before Sarah could say anything, he answered his own question. "Let me guess. You're the new student. Sarah Farmer, right?" Sarah nodded. "You can call me Mr. Season."

"We haven't really done much yet. It's really just been note taking so far and going over some basic stuff. The principal assures me that you should have a grasp of the basics, so I won't worry about that," he continued

The teacher walked over to his desk and sat in a rolling chair before turning to the computer. When Sarah heard a printer from somewhere, she figured he must have gone and printed something off. She was also a bit confused, seeing as the man had just stopped in the middle of an apparent conversation to go print something.

When he came back over carrying the papers, his purpose became apparent. "Here's the notes. I'm not expecting you to transcribe them or anything, so don't worry about that."

Sarah flipped through the stack of papers. After a little bit, her brain caught up with what she was seeing. "These are all about medaparts," she exclaimed. "This one has a diagram of a right arm." She looked at the paper again. "Looks like it's for a Nurse type," she added.

"Very good. Not many of the other students got that one so quickly. It looks like the principal might have been right about you after all." Season looked over at a set of lockers on one of the walls.

He walked over to one, indicating that Sarah should follow. She followed behind, still in shock. Indicating a locker, he continued talking about the class. "This will be your locker. You can put the tools you get to borrow in here along with any medaparts you happen to be working on at the time. I'll go get you a lock." He walked back to the cluttered desk and rummaged in a draw. He came back with a combination lock.

"Not very high tech, but they work," he commented, handing the lock to Sarah. "The combination is on a piece of tape on the back. I recommend you write it down somewhere before you take the tape off." He looked around the room again, oblivious to the shocked and vaguely fearful way Sarah was looking at him.

"I think you can have that seat," he said, indicating the seat nearest the doorway. As she followed his finger, Sarah noticed that most of the students had already gotten to the class.

Finally, Sarah found words to voice the thoughts that had been running through her head. "Are you telling me this class is all about medabots?" she said in a strained voice.

"No, actually, I was saying you should sit over in that seat," Season joked. When he looked at Sarah, all thoughts of joking left him. She looked as if she was debating on weather she should bolt or burst into tears, perhaps both. "What did you think the M stood for?"

"I had no idea. I just never though…" Sarah trailed off quietly.

"Apparently. Don't worry about it being too difficult or anything. Only the students that showed a lot of promise with mechanics and had an obvious interest in medabots were asked to join the class. I'm sure you wouldn't be here if the principal hadn't felt you deserved it."

"It's not the difficulty I'm worried about," Sarah mumbled.

"What was that?" Season asked.

"I was just wondering when teacher conferences were. Are you going to be there?"

Season gave her a confused look. "Not for a bit. I won't be able to make it to them though. Why?"

"No reason, just wondering." It was an obvious lie, but Sarah looked so relieved, Season decided not to press the issue.

The bell signaling the start of class rang. "One more thing before I start class," Season said. "I'll need a ten dollar materials fee and a five dollar deposit for the main tools you'll be using."

"I already have tools," Sarah replied. Season's face had doubt written all over it. "Here look," she said. Quickly, she dropped her backpack on to the ground and dug to the bottom of it. She lifted out a few books and pulled out a little metal box.

Handing it to the teacher, she was glad she had decided to bring it to school. It held a number of things she used when repairing old medaparts she had been able to get hands on over the years. She had put it in her backpack in case her grandmother ever found the tool shed. She might take away everything she found in there, but these things would be safe in Sarah's backpack. Her grandmother never thought of looking in there for what she called "medabot junk."

"This is impressive. Wire, a wire cutter and stripper. Some pliers. The display of screw drivers is impressive. And are these some ratchets?" He glanced over the open lid of the tool box at her, "I'm almost shocked you don't have some kind of miny welder in here." He handed the box back to Sarah, who put it back at the bottom of her bag.

"I guess I won't be needing the five dollars. Go take your seat now so I can start class."

Sarah grabbed her bag back up and went to the seat that had been indicated earlier. She actually had the table to herself, which she was glad of. She wanted as much space as she could get. She wanted to think about what was happening.

She couldn't believe it. It was seriously some kind of dream come true. She was in a class that was about medabots! It was almost too much for her to handle.

Her euphoria did not last long however. Soon, the dark clouds of dread covered her mind. The one problem with the entire situation was beginning to draw attention to itself. She had thought about it briefly before, but her excitement had soon covered her dread.

Finally, her fear got her attention: If her grandmother even thought she was near this class, let alone taking it, she'd probably go berserk. They'd have to move again, and Sarah would probably be home schooled for the rest of her life and she wouldn't put it past her grandmother to pull the evil fairytale relative bit and lock her up in some tower. On the whole, things would really suck.

Well, she comforted herself, at least I don't have to worry about her finding out at conference or something. Sarah sighed and looked down at the newest set of notes that had just been handed to her. She got out a pencil, because there were obvious blanks on the sheet that students were supposed to fill in as the teacher went over the information.

For the rest of the class, Sarah only half listened. She spent her time going from overjoyed to having the tight knot of fear in her stomach. She had to figure out how to stay in the class without her grandmother finding out she was in it. Simply not telling her would not be enough. There were so many ways she could find out. A passing comment by someone on the street would be all it took for Sarah's life to be even more ruined that it was.

By the time class was almost over, Sarah still hadn't come up with a solution to her problem. Sighing quietly, she decided she might as well give her full attention to Mr. Season's ending comments. She regretted that decision however, seeing as it ended up just added to her problems.

"Remember, this time next week, you all need to bring in one medapart. I don't care which one. Arm, leg, whatever, just bring it in. We'll be practicing the fine art of medapart care." Mr. Season grinned at his classes groan. He basically said they would be spending the hour going over every little screw to make sure there medapart was working as if it were brand new. It would be a tedious task, especially for this group, who, if Mr. Season's earlier comment was to be believed, were probably were used to much more complicated forms of medabot care.

In the past she had done the medabot's equivalent of a check up at the doctor for her few friends in the past. They had realized how much she longed to have a medabot and really didn't care what her grandmother thought. It was because of those people, those friends that had given her a chance, Sarah had found out she had a talent for medabot repair.

But none of those friends were there now. She would not be able to ask to borrow a medapart from them, and she certainty could not ask anyone in the school. That would ruin her plan of not letting anyone know she did not have a medabot. The same thing would happen if she told the teacher her dilemma. That or he would think she was trying to play some kind of joke. She would just have to think of something.

The bell rang and Sarah filed out of the class with everyone else. Her mood of excitement at having as close to a dream come true as she would get for awhile had become a feeling of hopelessness. So many problems, so much to hide, so few solutions.

Sarah stopped at her locker to grab her helmet. She pulled the key to her bike lock out of her pocket as she walked, turning it around in her hand. She sighed again as she unlocked her bike.

People were all around her as she pushed her only means of transportation out onto the sidewalk. Still thinking about her new problems, Sarah put on her helmet and started peddling to her new house. It would take awhile, but maybe it would give her enough time to think of something before she reached the place.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Building after building passed by as Sarah peddled her bike. Eventually she reached an area that resembled a shopping district. When that fact registered, she brought the bike to a stop. She didn't remember going through any shopping district that morning.

_ Drat, I must have taken a wrong turn_, she though. Looking around, she saw a little convenience store. She had become a bit thirsty, so she figured that she could buy a drink while asking a clerk for directions.

She propped her bike up outside the store window, leaving her helmet in the basket. She grabbed some money from her backpack and went inside.

The black haired clerk, a man who looked to be about twenty-four, was talking to another customer, so Sarah headed over to the drinks. She tried not to listen in on the conversation, but, well, they were talking a bit loudly.

"Ha, Henry, I can't believe you're still working here. I thought Dr. Aki was supposed to give you a job at the Medabot Corporation," said the rather familiar looking customer.

"Oh, ha, ha. Make fun of those older then you. For your information, I am getting a job there. Dr. Aki just said he needed to get some stuff cleared up before I could get the job. So, I'm working here for the time being," Henry retorted

"Yeah right," retorted the boy he was talking to.

The clerk ignored the last comment and looked around. "Hey, where's Metabee? He's normally with you. You two didn't get into a fight again did you?"

"No, we didn't," the customer replied in a voice that hinted he had been asked that question a lot. "There's something wrong with his right arm, and I can't figure out what. I need to take it to Dr. Aki today so he can give it a look over."

"Why don't you take it to that medabot repair class I heard the Medabot Corporation was sponsoring at your school. Shouldn't someone there be able to fix it?"

The boy looked a bit surprised at the idea. "I never thought of that."

"You never think of anything," the clerk commented jokingly.

Sarah picked a fruit juice out and walked up to the counter. The clerk and the boy he had been talking to stopped and looked at her. "Oh, I, umm, would like to buy this please," she said nervously, holding up the drink.

As the clerk was ringing up the item, she snatched another look at the boy. He really did look familiar. Perhaps he had been in one of her classes? It was quite possible.

"I, umm, heard you were having problems with your medabot," she finally blurted out. She could feel herself start to go red when the boy and the clerk looked at her. What had she been thinking? It had just come out.

"I'm sorry. I overheard. I thought, maybe, I might be able to give the part a look."

The boy gave her an odd look, then reorganization dawned. "Oh, you're that new girl at school. Sarah, right?"

Sarah nodded. So, she must have seen the boy at school. Why did she have the feeling she had seen him somewhere else?

"I don't see what it could hurt," commented the clerk to the boy, handing Sarah her drink while he talked. She thanked him and handed him the money.

The boy shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

"Okay, just let me go get something." Sarah rushed outside to her bike and grabbed her toolbox out of the backpack. She was exited. It had been awhile since she had been able to get her hands on a medapart, and this one seemed as if it would present a challenge.

As she walked back inside, she could feel the nerves she got around new people disappearing at the thought of fixing a medapart. When she got up to the counter, the boy had already transported the medapart there.

"Oh, wow. It's an old KBT type. You don't see many of those running around anymore," Sarah commented, opening her toolbox.

"Yeah, I guess," mumbled the boy. The clerk just hid a smile.

"I'm actually a big fan of this model," Sarah chattered as she started to take the thing apart. At first glance everything seemed to be in order. She got out a screwdriver and started to take one of the computer chips out.

"What's that?" the boy asked. He was pointing to an odd contraption she had just taken out of the box. It looked like one of the magnifiers a jeweler used to look at a precious stone. The only difference was that this one seemed to have little clamps on it.

"Oh, this?" Sarah said, putting the odd thing over one of the lenses on her glasses. "It's basically a little magnifying glass. I found it at a garage sale awhile back. It's really useful because I can just clip it over one of my lenses." She began to examine the chip she had taken out with the eye that had the magnifier.

"What do you need it for?" This time it was the clerk asking the question. If Sarah had been paying much attention, she would have heard the tone of his voice. It sounded far more as if he was testing her then simply trying to find information out.

"Oh, you have to be really careful with these chips," Sarah began, enjoying herself enormously. "This is one of the main computer chips in a medabots arm. Even the littlest problem can cause the entire part to stop working. In a robattle, the chips can break sometime, especially on older models like this," she didn't look up from her examination the entire time she was talking. If she had, she might have seen the little nod the clerk gave. "I'm checking to see if there might have been even a small break or some kind of damage."

"I can't believe I never thought to give those chips a closer look," boy said, giving himself a light smack on the forehead.

Sarah flipped the computer chip over, checking the other side. "Most people wouldn't think of it. They know to check for big damage, but the fact that a little crack could mess everything up never seems to occur to them. I wouldn't beat yourself up over it."

Sarah put the computer chip she was looking at down and began to take some other parts out. She checked all the wires as she went and anything else she thought might be causing the problem.

She still hadn't found anything when she got to a bundle of wires in the bottom of the arm. They were all held together by a little piece of metal attached to the bottom of the piece with some extremely small screws.

Sarah gave the bundle a look, wondering if she should take the metal piece off and check the wires there. She knew that the bundle was the one place where all the wires in the arm where next to each other. But she had checked the rest of those same wires and hadn't found anything amiss.

After a few seconds, she decided to check the wires in the bundle anyway. It would probably be overkill, but the problem didn't seem to be anywhere else she had checked. Pulling out a smaller screwdriver, Sarah took the little metal strip off.

"What're you doing? Didn't you check all the wires already?" the boy asked.

"Yeah, I know. The wires seem fine everywhere else, but maybe the problem is here. I doubt it, but who knows?" Sarah said, carefully separating and checking the wires in the bundle.

Suddenly, she let out a soft whistle. "I think I found the problem," she said indicating two wires that had been at the center of the group. They looked as if the had completely melted together.

"How did that happen?" the clerk asked, looking a bit surprised.

"My guess would be it's it might have something to do with the fact that these were what appear to be the two oldest wires in the entire part," Sarah commented. She had begun to carefully take the wires out. The plastic casing had melted onto some of the other wires. It might have posed a bit of a problem if she was not careful, but in the end, she got the wires out. "Actually," she said, pulling some new wire out of her toolbox, "I'm a bit shocked nothing worse happened. The amount of heat needed to melt those wires like that should have caught the plastic on fire."

She was connecting the new wires and missed the look that the clerk and the boy exchanged. "Medaforce?" mouthed the clerk. The boy nodded.

Not knowing what was going on, Sarah continued, "It must have been some kind of huge power surge that the old wires just couldn't take. Don't know what might cause that kind of surge though," she commented. After the problem was fixed, Sarah put everything back together and started to put her stuff back into the tool box.

"I don't know what I can do to thank you," said the boy.

"I wouldn't worry about that until you see if it works," Sarah replied with a grin. She grabbed her drink and toolbox and started to leave. On her way out, she turned around. "There is something you could do for me actually," she said.

"What d' you need?" asked the boy.

"Two things actually," Sarah said, and idea coming to her. "For one thing, I'm actually a bit lost. Do you know how to get back to Masao Road?"

"Just head down the street and take your first left," answered the clerk, "after that, go straight until you can turn right. Turn right and you should be there."

"Wonderful," Sarah said, smiling. "One last thing. Is there a scrap yard around here? One that sells old medaparts for cheap?"

"There is," replied the clerk again. "Here, let me draw you a map." He pulled a piece of paper and a pencil out of somewhere and quickly drew a map. Sarah took it with a thanks and left.

The clerk and the boy watched her through the shop window. Once she had mounted the bike and left, they began talking again.

"Did you say she was new to the area Ikki?" asked Henry

"Yeah. She just moved from Tokyo I heard," replied Ikki.

"Did you notice she didn't have a medawatch?"

"No, actually," Ikki replied. When he thought about it though, he realized Henry was right. "That's odd," he commented.

"Yeah, it is," Henry mused, still looking out the window.

Sarah followed the clerk's directions and soon found herself back in an area she recognized. As she went, she began to worry about the time. If she was too late, her grandmother might end up grounding her, just on the general belief that she must have done something wrong if she wasn't getting back to the house as soon as a bike could get her there.

Sarah considered stopping so she could take out her cell phone and check the time, but decided against it. If she was late, wasting more time would not be worth it.

She passed a small side street as she was peddling. It looked like it might be a short cut, so Sarah quickly turned around, heading down the street.

When she got to the end of the street she was pleased to find that her idea had worked. She had covered a short distance, but probably shaved three minutes off of her trip. When she came to another side street, she turned down it as well, hoping it would work out like last time. As she was going down the street, she heard the unmistakable sounds of a robattle coming from a small alleyway up ahead. She thought nothing of it until she heard someone shout.

"Leave Crosserdog alone. Take a part if you want. Just leave his medal." The speaker sounded afraid. Sarah pulled the bike's brakes, skidding to a halt a short distance from the ally's mouth.

"Hey, kid, we won. Think of it as the spoils of victory. Now, hand over the medal and no one gets hurt." This voice had a hard edge to it. Whoever had just spoken knew he was going to get what he wanted, whether through peaceful means or otherwise.

Sarah let her bike fall as she rushed to the ally. She could see three people who looked to be about her age, each with a Belzelga. There backs were all to her, facing towards something else. She couldn't see the person who had yelled out, figuring they were what the people were staring at.

"Now, hand over the medal and maybe we won't just take the rest of your medabot," said the person in the middle. He was just slightly taller then the other two, with black hair. He was the same person she had heard demanding the medal before, and Sarah suspected her was the leader of the three.

Ignoring all common sense, she walked briskly up to the group and pushed past the guys standing there. She quickly glanced at the person they had been harassing. He was a boy her age with spiky, black hair. He was clutching his medabot and looked shocked to see Sarah.

"What are you guys doing?" Sarah demanded, hoping they would be so shocked by her appearance they would not realize they had numbers on their side. "Leave the guy alone. If you beat him just take a medapart and go. You can't take his medal."

"Oh, we can't?" said the guy on the left. "And who is going to enforce that? You and that army of invisible medabots behind you?" His friends laughed vindictively.

So, maybe her last idea hadn't worked. Maybe lying through her teeth would. It had gotten her past a few ruff patches already today.

"What, am I supposed to be scared of you?" she said, grandstanding for all she was worth. "You and those ridicules Belzelga? Don't make me laugh. Those things are pieces of junk. My medabot could beat all three of them, no problem."

And here things got tricky. If they believed her, they were the total idiots she was hoping for. If they didn't believe her, well she was screwed but there was hope for the intelligence level of bullies everywhere, she was sure.

Turned out, there was hope. Just not for her. "Yeah," said the other crony. "Let's see your medabot then."

"I, well…That could pose a bit of a problem," Sarah stammered. What was she going to do? She looked back at the guy she had come to help in the first place. He just so happened to be at the other end of the ally with his medabot.

The three medal thieves followed her gaze and saw the black haired boy. "Hey, where do you think you're going?" shouted the guy in the middle. The leader took a step forward, as if he was about to give chase. Seeing his tormenter getting closer, the black haired guy grabbed his medabot and ran away as if demons were after him.

And they probably would be. Once they got done with Sarah first. The leader turned on Sarah, fury contorting his face. "Look what you did. I was going to let you get away, but now, we're taking your medal. Compensation for what you just lost us."

"Wait," said crony one. "Look at her wrist. She ain't got a medawatch." He pointed to her wrist. The three guys stared at the wrist, making Sarah feel so uncomfortable she hid it behind her back.

"Well, if she doesn't have a medabot, I'm sure she's got some money." The leader reached out and grabbed Sarah's arm. "Come on girl, hand it over."

Before she really thought about it, Sarah's fist shot out and punched the guy in the gut. She then rushed past the other two, both to shocked to stop her. Her plan was to get to her bike and get away fast. They wouldn't be able to keep up.

"What are you idiots thinking?" shouted the leader, clutching his stomach. "Get her."

"Right," stammered the cronies in unison. "Belzelga, get her," they commanded. All three Belzelga turned and chased after Sarah, who had by that time almost gotten to the end of the ally. The medabots were far faster then any human though, and quickly caught up to her. That was when things began going in Sarah's favor.

"Stop," came a commanding voice near the rooftops. Surprisingly, the Belzelga did stop, looking in the direction the voice had come from. Standing on the roof was a small shape with horns coming from the top of its head. Some kind of cloak was moving gently in the breeze and another shape seemed to be sitting on the cloaked figure's shoulder.

The figure jumped down from the roof, landing between Sarah and the Belzelga. It turned out to be a white medabot. The horns spouting from its head were purple and the shape she had seen on its shoulder turned out to be a parrot. Sarah couldn't see what kind of weapons the medabot had because most of its body was concealed under the cloak.

"Cowards," said the medabot. "Attacking a defenseless girl. All you are are heartless cowards."

The leader of the three seemed to take the name calling rather personally. "Attack that medabot," he yelled into his medawatch.

His Belzelga turned on the white medabot. The Belzelga pulled one of its formidable fists back, about to strike. Just before it hit however, the white medabot put up a hand, stopping a hit that would have caused sever damage on another medabot.

The parrot flew off the white medabot's shoulder, perching on Sarah's bike instead. Sarah paid the bird little mind, more fascinated by what was going on in front of her.

The two cronies had sent their medabots after Sarah's rescuer as well. Sarah thought the white medabot was done for sure, with the odds so obviously stacked against it. The white medabot simply jumped out of the way of the attacks. Before its opponents could decide what to do next, the white medabot went in for the attack. There were a few brief flashes of light, obviously the reflection off a sword.

Sarah heard the sound of medawatches stating battle damage. She caught a few of the numbers, surprised at how high they where. More surprising was that the medabots of the two cronies were out of commission after the attack, there medals ejected. The leader's medabot still had some fight left in it however.

It went after the white medabot with another punch. Instead of blocking the attack this time, the white medabot moved out of the way, striking at Belzelga as it went past. That was all it took to cause a function ceased on the leader's medabot as well.

Quickly, the three teenagers ran up and grabbed their medals and medabots. They then took off, away from Sarah and the white medabot. Sarah watched them go, glad things had turned out so well.

Before he was out of sight, the leader turned around. "I'll get you for this, just you wait," he shouted. It was, hopefully, no more then an empty threat.

Sarah turned to the white medabot. "Thank you very mu-," she was shocked to see that the medabot had disappeared, along with the parrot. Confused, she looked around, trying to spot her rescuer. _Strange_, she thought, _I didn't see a medafighter around anywhere. And what was up with the parrot?_

After a minuet or two, Sarah got back on her bike and peddled for her house. The rest of the way she stuck with the more normal route, taking no more shortcuts to get back quicker.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Sarah arrived at the house out of breath and nearly out of control. She tried to stop the bike at the start of the driveway, but her momentum caused it to skid almost into the garage door.

She opened the garage, expecting her grandmother to come storming out at any second. When she got the door open though, she saw that her grandmother's car wasn't there. Grateful for the lucky break, Sarah brought her bike inside, throwing the helmet into the basket. Closing the garage door, she entered the house.

A large, furry shape nearly brought Sarah to the floor once she stepped inside. "Down boy," she commanded, giggling as the large dog tried to lick her face. "I'm glad to see you to Rembrandt. Now get off of me you big lump." She pushed the dog off.

Patting him on the head, Sarah looked around the entrance hallway. She didn't see anything that might tell her where her grandmother was, so she headed for the kitchen.

Once there, Sarah shrugged her backpack off, leaving it next to one of the chairs by the kitchen table. Rembrandt went over to one of the cabinets near the sink, his wagging tail making loud thumping noises against the wood.

"Alright, alright. I'll give you a treat." Opening the cabinet, Sarah pulled out a box of dog bisects and handed one to her canine companion. Eagerly, the dog took the treat, walking away a short distance so he could eat it in peace.

Glancing around the kitchen, Sarah noticed a note stuck to the normally bare refrigerator.

I've gone to the store, be back around 3:30, it said in small, cramped handwriting. Glancing at the clock, Sarah saw it was 3:15. And if her grandmother had left a note, that meant she had left for the store before she would have expected Sarah to be home from school. If she hadn't, Sarah knew the women would have put off the shopping just to have a chance to scold her granddaughter.

Thinking that a day of mixed luck had finally ended with something good, Sarah went over to her backpack and pulled out the little homework she had. As she was doing that, her hand brushed the drink she had shoved in there earlier. Pulling it out too, Sarah took a few quick gulps.

Fifteen minutes later, Sarah was on the last of her homework problems, Rembrandt dozing near her feet underneath the table. The only sounds came from the scratching of the pencil and the occasional snore from the dog.

As the last part of the homework was completed, a loud banging interrupted the silence. Sarah closed the notebook she had been working in and stretched. Another loud knock interrupted her. It was followed by a slightly shrill voice. "Open the door Sarah. Quickly now, I don't have all day."

Walking into the entryway, Sarah opened the door to be met by the sight of her grandmother holding a grocery bag. She had a brief flashback to when she was ten, and her grandmother had caught her watching the World Robattle Championships. She had just finished grocery shopping then too.

It didn't help that the last six years hadn't changed her grandmother much. The only noticeable differences were that she had become far more wrinkled, an occurrence that made her look even more sever. Her hair hand also become whiter, if that had been at all possible.

"What are you standing there for? Get out of my way and go grab some of the groceries from the car," her grandmother snapped. Of course, age had also given the old women a shorter temper.

"Sorry Grandma. I'm a bit out of it. Just tired from school I guess," Sarah replied, suppressing the feelings of anger her thoughts of the past had caused. She had also felt a bit guilty, thinking of the time she had gotten into trouble. Although that, she mused as she walked outside to the car, probably has more to do with how much I've been disobeying today then with anything wrong I did in the past.

Looking into the trunk, Sarah could tell her grandmother had done a lot of shopping. Not all that surprising seeing as they had just moved in. Her grandmother must have decided that today was a good day to finish one of the last things that needed doing to make them officially moved in.

Grabbing two bags, Sarah almost tripped over Rembrandt when she turned around. "Move Rembrandt, please." The dog got out of the way, following her back inside. He hated being far from Sarah and often followed her around when he could. She always felt bad when she had to leave him at home because she suspected he suffered from separation anxiety.

She placed the bags on the kitchen table, her grandmother already putting away the contents of the bag she had brought in. "Hey, Grandma," Sarah said, shoving her homework back into her school bag while she was talking. "Can I take Rembrandt out after I get the groceries in? I want to take him out to town, so he can get to know the area."

Her grandmother considered the idea, eventually nodding. "I suppose so. I didn't let him out yet toady because if he ran away, I had no plans of chasing him."

"Thanks Grandma," Sarah replied cheerily.

Truthfully, she was a bit frustrated with her grandmother. The woman knew Rembrandt needed to go outside a few times a day. He was only three and still had a lot of energy. Besides, if he had run off, as he was prone to do, her grandmother knew very well there was nothing to worry about. Rembrandt always ran off to find Sarah and he always did, so they never really had to worry about him getting lost.

Sarah made ten more trips to the car and back. Finally, everything was inside and she was about to head off. She had grabbed her cell phone and the large, satchel like purse she liked to carry when she didn't have a backpack. Rembrandt had his leash attached to the yellow collar he always wore, so he was nearly bursting with excitement.

"Wait one moment Sarah," her grandmother called from the kitchen. Sarah stopped, hand inches from the doorknob. The old woman appeared in the kitchen doorway.

"I want you to get that dog some new tags, ones with the new address on it. Here," she walked over to Sara hand handed her some money. "This should cover it. Also, I want you back by seven. Got that?" Sarah nodded. It was four, so she had about three hours away from the house.

After that, her grandmother let her go. Sarah grabbed her bike and unclipped Rembrandt's leash. He could run next to the bike until they got into town. At which time she could just push the bike, maybe tying his leash to one of the handle bars.

Sarah took off, her dog easily keeping up. She often had people commenting on how he resembled a large wolf with floppy ears and agreed with the description. The only difference was his eyes. They were the eyes of a dog that had found a home and would never give it up for the call of the wild. They were the eyes of a crudely fluff ball who would only harm a fly if he thought it threatened his mistress.

After awhile, the two reached town and stopped. Getting off the bike, Sara tied the leash to one of the handle bars and clipped it back onto Rembrandt's collar. He could be hyper at times, but she trusted him enough in public not to hold onto the leash the entire time, even in new surroundings.

They walked for a bit, Rembrandt stopping to sniff at new things as they went. They found themselves in the shopping district Sarah had been in earlier. She saw a pet shop, one of the larger kinds that she knew could make dog tags, and headed for the building. She untied Rembrandt and propped the bike up out side the store. When she was about to enter, a voice stopped her.

"Hey kid, why do you want to go in there?" Turning around, Sarah saw an old man with a straw hat sitting on the side walk. In front of him was a cardboard box that a faint cheeping came from.

"So I can buy something," she said, not sure what the guy wanted.

"Well, why don't you buy something from me, instead of the pet store?" he asked in a salesmenly way.

"Do you sell dog tags? 'Cause that's what I came for," Sarah said, wondering where the conversation was going.

The man looked disappointed, but quickly recovered. "No, but I do sell," here he paused, reaching his hand into the box, "chickens." He held up a small, yellow chick for Sarah to inspect.

"Sorry, I don't need a chicken. Thank you all the same." She was about to go inside when the man stopped her again.

"But wait, if you bought a chicken, I'm sure it would get along with your dog. Then it would have companionship while you were at school," he said, in a last ditch effort to sell her the chicken.

"I think not. Thanks again though." Sarah quickly went inside. Once inside, one of the store's workers came over to her immediately. She suspected it was because she had brought such a large dog inside with her, something that could make people a bit nervous.

"Is there anything I can help you with ma'am?" he inquired.

"Yes actually," Sarah answered, pulling a sheet of paper out of her pocket. "I need a dog tag with this information on it." She handed the paper to the man. She had not yet memorized all of her new house information, so she had written it down before she had left.

"Of course. Right this way please." He led Sarah over to a machine, where he preceded to take a small disk of metal and insert it into the machine.

"Did you know there's some random chicken guy sitting outside of your store?" Sarah asked as the man punched in the information.

The man chuckled. "Yes, he sits out here sometimes. He gets all over the area, trying to sell those chickens. He doesn't hurt anything, so we leave him be."

"How much is this going to cost?" Sarah asked as the little machine thrummed, etching the information onto the tag.

The man answered and Sarah pulled the money out. He told her she could pay for it while she waited. Taking his advice Sarah went over and paid for the dog tag. She was pleasantly surprised to find that it had actually cost less then her grandmother had expected.

Sarah walked back to the man and the engraving machine, shoving the change into her pocket. If she didn't mention it, her grandmother would think it had all been spent, leaving Sarah with a bit more money saved up. She seldom got any allowance and what she did get, her grandmother kept close eyes on it, making sure she didn't buy anything that had to do with medabots.

When the tag was done, Sarah thanked the man. Before she left, she replaced Rembrandt's old tag with the new one, knowing she would forget if she left it until later.

Outside the store, the random chicken guy was gone. Sarah was a bit surprised, and a little disappointed. She had hoped to ask him for directions to the scrap yard. She had forgotten the clerk's map in her backpack.

To her surprise she found that it was actually in her pocket when she was putting the old tag away. Happily, she pulled the map out and was glad to see that she should be able to get there and then back to the house without being late.

"Look girl, I don't know who you've been talking to, but I don't sell medaparts here," said a burly man. "Does this look like a store?" He indicated the view outside the window.

Sarah had reached the place the clerk had put on the map, going straight for the building near the entrance. When she had gotten there, she had been greeted by a large, guff man. When she had asked about medaparts, he had given her the reply she had just heard.

"But sir," Sarah protested, "don't people drop off old medaparts here sometime? It would make sense; they could get some money to buy new parts that way."

The man just looked at her as if she was off her rocker. "Look girl, if I did have any medaparts, I wouldn't sell 'em to you. The Medabot Corporation buys 'em off me for way more 'en they're worth."

"So you do have some medaparts then," Sarah said triumphantly.

"I never said that. I just said the Corporation pays me a lot for the ones I do get." Sarah looked down sadly. She had really hoped she had found a way to get her hands on some medaparts.

"Why would you want any from here anyway? The stuff would be real junk, either way old or way beyond repair," the man said. The way the girl had reacted made him feel a bit guilty.

Sarah figured the best thing was to tell the truth. Or most of it anyway. "I don't have the money to buy new medaparts. I'm really good at repairing them though, so I figured I could buy some cheap from here, then fix them up."

The man glanced at a door behind him, then back at Sarah. "Well, I might have something. What were you thinkin' of?"

"An arm piece," Sarah answered hopefully. It looked like the man might have something after all. He went into the back room and came back out carrying what looked like the right arm to an old Blackram medabot.

The man placed the arm on the counter in front of Sarah, who gave it a very thorough look over. The only real problem seemed to be that it was extremely old. Older parts did tend to be a bit sporadic when it came to working properly, but Sarah knew from past experience that a good tune up could fix that.

"I like to repair 'em myself," the man said, rubbing the back of his head. "I keep the better stuff for myself. But, I thought, not many kids actually do the repair work any more. Gets to old and you just pitch 'em. So, might as well help you out a bit."

"This is wonderful," Sarah replied happily. If she could buy it cheaply enough, she could find some way to hide. Then she could sneak it into the garage when she got home and move it to the tool shed later that night.

"I can sell it to you for five bucks," the man said.

"That would be great," Sarah replied enthusiastically. She pulled out the money and handed it to the man. "Could I come back another day and but some more parts?" she asked.

The man gave her a critical look. "If you're willing to put up with the repair work, feel free. But talk to me when you want any. I tell all my workers not to sell any parts."

That statement caused Sarah a bit of surprise. "You own this place?"

"Yeah. And good thing for you. Otherwise you'd be leaving here empty handed."

Thanking the man again, Sarah went back outside. Rembrandt was sitting patiently next to the bike. When he saw Sarah, he jumped up, tail wagging.

Sarah patted him on the head, praising him for staying put while she was inside. Before they started back to the house, Sarah shoved the part under her bag. It looked odd and if her grandmother actually paid close attention when Sarah got back, she would think something was up. This was really just if her grandmother glanced out a window or something when she was coming back.

Unhooking Rembrandt's leash, the two of them went back home, Sarah riding her bike, the dog running beside.

Once they got there, things seemed to be normal. Sarah got into the garage without any issues and was just trying to decide where to put the medapart when a voice called out to her.

"Is that you Sarah?" her grandmother asked.

"Yeah. Just putting my bike away. Be in in a sec," Sarah yelled, hoping her grandmother had heard her. If not, she would come investigate and Sarah would be in way more trouble then any burglar.

Her grandmother had heard however. "Hurry up then, I want you to wash up before dinner," came the reply.

Making a snap decision, Sarah hid the piece behind a pile of boxes that she knew would not be moved until later that week. She then walked inside and got ready for dinner.

Dinner was a quite affair, Sarah's grandmother asking the occasion question about her granddaughter's day. Sarah would answer, leaving out any bits her grandmother might find objectionable, like being rescued by a mysterious white medabot.

Finally, the meal was over and Sarah went up to her room, to read the book she had gotten earlier from the school library. After awhile, she yawned, thinking how long ago that seemed. What an eventful day it had been. Yawning again, she closed the book, thinking she could close her eyes for a bit.

A few hours later, Rembrandt woke her up, pawing at her and whining. Groggily, Sarah looked about. It was dark and everything was very blurry. Realizing her glasses must have fallen off sometime after she had fallen asleep, Sarah groped around.

Finding them on the floor, Sarah shoved the glasses onto her face and looked at the clock. It was near midnight, the reason for the darkness. Looking out into the hallway, she saw her grandmother's bedroom door was open. Sneaking over to it, she glanced inside and saw the gently moving lump that signaled her grandmother was asleep.

Quietly, she snuck back into her room and arranged the blankets to look as if she was still sleeping in bed. She then headed down stairs, Rembrandt following close behind. She had a rough moment when she tripped on a dog toy in the dark, but was able to recover without much noise.

Slipping her shoes on and grabbing a flashlight out of a drawer, she went to the garage. Going over to the boxes, Sarah grabbed her medapart and crept out the garage's backdoor, being careful to relock it and shove the key deep into her pocket where it wouldn't fall out.

She ran in the dark until the house was out of sight. Knowing it was safe to turn on the flashlight, she flicked the switch, illuminating the area around her. Rembrandt came out of the darkness behind her, causing a little squeak to escape her lips.

"Don't sneak up on me like that," Sarah scolded. The dog just wagged his tail and walked ahead of her. He knew where they were going and had no worries about getting lost.

Sarah had a bit of a harder time then her dog, seeing as the path to the tool shed was severely overgrown and was difficult to follow in the daylight, let alone at night. The walk there was brisk however, and they quickly reached their destination. Pulling a different key out of her pocket, Sarah unlocked the door and went inside, followed by Rembrandt.

Sarah turned on the light switch and immediately got to work on fixing any pieces of the medapart that were too old to work. Rembrandt had other ideas and flopped down on a small rug placed next to the door; he was quickly asleep. Sarah had brought the rug and a chair to the tool shed, both having been found in the basement of the new house. She knew her grandmother didn't even know about the two items, so she had no problems bringing the two comforts to the shed.

Awhile later, Sarah was almost done with her repair work and glanced at an old clock that had been on the wall when she had found the place. All it had needed was some fresh batteries and it had worked fine. It was, to Sarah's dismay, displaying the time as 3:30.

Finishing things up and cleaning up the slight mess she had made, Sarah woke up the dog and headed out. Stifling a yawn, she made sure to turn off the light and lock the door behind her. She walked back to the house as quickly as she could, hoping to get an hour or two of more sleep.

She snuck back in the house awhile later and dragged herself up to her bed. Remembering to take off her shoes and glasses, she flopped down and was quickly asleep.

---------------------------------------------

**AN:** Sorry about not getting a chapter up last week, my computer was being difficult. Things should be fixed now though so I should be updating on Fridays or Saturdays again.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

The next week past by rather uneventfully for Sarah. School went well, and she enjoyed spending most of her lunch periods on the computer. She was enjoying all of her classes, especially the medabot repair course, which she paid the materials fee in later that week. Admittedly, she had to pay for it herself, but the results were much preferred to if she had asked her grandmother for the money. She did have a problem with the girl Erika seeming to follower her around a bit, but it was something she dealt with by just ignoring. She ran into the boy whose medapart she had fixed a few times. While he shared some of her classes, she never got around to finding out his name and still had the nagging feeling she had seen him somewhere before.

She convinced her grandmother to let her get back to the house around 3:30, saying it was better then having Sarah rush and forget something important for school. While her grandmother was less then pleased, she saw sense in the idea and Sarah had far more leisurely rides home. And if she now had time and stop to watch a robattle that she passed, all the better. Robattles seemed pretty common in the area actually, so she got a chance to watch one most days.

To add to the pleasantness, her grandmother had yet to find a dojo for Sarah to attend, much to her granddaughters delight. While she enjoyed karate, she had never been all that happy that she was forced to take it in the first place. She was hoping that if her grandmother couldn't find anywhere soon, she might not have to start back up at all.

Sarah was becoming a bit tired, spending most nights out in the tool shed, a place she found herself referring to as her workshop. She had been able to get more parts from the man at the scrap yard. He had turned out to be rather pleasant and would often talk medabot repair with Sarah for a short time before he got back to work. By the Monday she needed the one medapart, Sarah found herself in position of enough medaparts to make a complete, if eclectic, medabot, if only she had a tinpet and medal.

Monday, she left early for school, turning into the woods once she was out of sight of the house. It took a bit, but she found the shed and was able to get the Blackram arm to school without her grandmother being any the wiser.

Her early start got her to the school around the same time she had reached it on the first day of school. This time however, she was glad to be there before most of the other students. Carrying the medapart into the school, instead of just transporting it when it was needed, would look odd. And if she knew anything, it was that teenagers had a habit of speculating about odd things. Speculation had a habit of finding things out, a fact that Sarah was unhappily aware of.

Making her way to the classroom in which the medabot mechanics and repair class was held, Sarah was glad to see the door was open. She walked inside, noticing the teacher was at his desk. She politely wished him a good morning and dropped the medapart off in her locker. He gave her an odd look, but said nothing, going back to some paper he was checking. Quickly Sarah left.

The rest of the day went smoothly, and she didn't even have the problem of Erika following her. When the medabot class came up at the end of the day, she spent one of the best hours she had in awhile. While she had fixed the piece up considerable, there were still a few things she had left to fix up, not wanting to have nothing to do during class.

Mr. Season checked the parts over at the end of class, making sure everyone had done a thorough job. He specifically praised Sarah, who he said had done a wonderful job with such an old medapart.

"One last thing class," Mr. Season said just before the bell rang. "Well be taking more notes for tomorrow. The day after however, I want you all to bring in some parts that actually have some battle damage."

He paused as some students commented in low voices about how that would be hard for them to find. Smiling, Mr. Season commented, "If it'll be that much of a problem for some of you, I'm sure you could all just ask Spyke it you could borrow a part. There should be plenty of damage there to fix." That got a good laugh out of the class, although Sarah sat there silently, having no idea who the teacher was talking about.

After that, the bell rang and everyone picked up their medaparts and headed for the door. Sarah was glad to see they were all carrying them, which made her look far less conspicuous as she headed to her bike.

She unlocked the bike from the rack and headed straight for the house. She took a different path then the last time to reach the shed. She dropped the medapart off, then got back onto the main road.

Once she reached the house, she had to take Rembrandt out for his normal after school walk and get her homework done. There were a few chores she had to do as well, but she was in a good mood and no amount of house work was going to rune it.

Once everything was done, she was able to spend some time reading and dozing until dinner, a meal which turned out pleasant because even her grandmother seemed to be in a good mood. A bit more reading, the nit was off to bed.

Before she called it a night, Sarah grabbed her laptop and put it in its carrying case. The little backpack like structure still had some room in it, so she put her MP3 player and its wireless speakers in there as well. Having nothing much to do when it came to fixing medaparts, Sarah planned to go to the shed and add to her medabot notes, a task she would find far more pleasant with some music.

Finally, she went to bed, knowing either she would wake up herself or Rembrandt would do the task for her. And if she missed one night in her little workshop, she had nothing pressing to do to worry about, she told herself as she drifted off.

Ikki was walking out of the school doors when he spotted Sarah. He had been trying to talk to her since that first Monday, but had never found much of an opportunity. He was about to go over and say hi when she sped off on her bike.

Sighing, he began to leave she school as well. When he got out of the school gates, he looked around just to make sure Sarah hadn't stopped to talk to someone. It didn't seem like something she would do, but one never knew. He sighed again when he saw she wasn't there either. He felt he should thank her for fixing Metabee's arm, which had worked wonderfully after she had repaired it.

Without really looking, he kicked a rock. It hit something, making a clanging noise. "Watch it," came an angry voice.

Looking up, Ikki saw his yellow medabot standing there, having obviously been waiting for him to arrive. "Sorry Metabee. I didn't see you there." Metabee just humphed in response. He had become a bit less hot headed over the years, but not much.

The two of them towards home, stopping briefly to watch some younger kids robattling in the park.

When the kids had finished, Ikki and Metabee went on their way. "When do _we_ get to kick some bot? I'm tired of just sitting around. A bit less activity and I think I'll start to rust," Metabee complained.

"You always think you'll rust," Ikki noted.

"I'm a medabot okay? We rust if we're not careful," Metabee countered.

Ikki didn't respond, continuing to walk. Metabee followed, the two of them sharing a rare moment of silence. After awhile though, Metabee broke the silence.

"So, what are we doing today?" he asked, walking beside Ikki, arms behind his head.

"I'm doing homework," Ikki replied. "Erika asked me to meet her over at the store. She said she wanted to talk about something. I'll be heading over there after I get my stuff done at home. Want to come?" Ikki knew that Metabee would come if he was invited or not, so he might as well make the offer.

"Sure, beats sitting around all day." The two of them walked farther in silence.

This time, Ikki was the one that spoke first. "Did you hang out with Rokusho today?"

"What would make you say that?" Metabee replied, a bit defensively.

Chuckling, Ikki replied. "A few reasons, the biggest two being that I haven't seen you most of the day and that you're being really quite. You always get like that after you talk to Rokusho."

"He just gives me a lot to think about," Metabee mumbled. Ikki's guess had been right though. Metabee had spent most of the day with the largely pacifist medabot, who had a habit of saying things that Metabee would never have thought of himself.

Continuing in that way, sometimes talking, sometimes being lost in their own thoughts, the two of them made it back home. Upon entering, they were both greeted by an empty house.

"Mom? Hello?" Ikki yelled, putting his backpack down and walking farther into the house.

"Mrs. Tenryou?" Metabee yelled, following Ikki inside. He went into the kitchen, finding a note on the table. "I found something Ikki," he yelled.

Ikki came over, looking over at the note Metabee was holding. He let out a relived sigh. After she was kidnapped six years ago, he freaked out a bit whenever his mother wasn't at home when she normally was supposed to be. "She only went out shopping. Well, if she's not back home by the time we leave, we'll have to leave her a note ourselves."

Metabee nodded, putting the note back on the table. He was relived that Mrs. Tenryou was only out shopping too.

The two went there separate ways, Ikki going up to his room to finish his homework, Metabee to take the elderly family dog, Salty, out for a quick walk.

When they were both ready to go, Ikki's mother still hadn't come back yet. Ikki left her a brief note and left. The two of them arrived at the arranged meeting place a short while later. He was surprised to see a lot of the people he knew. Henry was there of course, but so was Rintaro, Samantha, Sloan, Spyke, Koji, and…

"Hi Karin," Ikki said, giving the redhead a small wave. She waved back, indicating he come take the seat next to her. Koji was on the other side and the two gave each other slight glares as Ikki passed him. The two actually got along well, but when it came to Karin, they were like oil and water.

"Glad to see you decided to join us," Erika commented once Ikki sat down.

"I actually get homework Erika," Ikki said. Erika just gave him a look that said, quite clearly, that homework was no excuse.

"Don't worry Ikki," Karen said sweetly, "Every one else just arrived too."

"Thanks Karin," Ikki smiled at her. Koji just frowned.

"So what's so important that you dragged us all here," Samantha interrupted any further conversation.

"Yeah," interjected Spyke, "Boss has to go to her dance cl-," he was cut short by Samantha shoving her hand over his mouth and telling him to shut up.

"Oh, come on Samantha, we all know you take ballet," Erika said. Samantha just blushed but did take her hand off of Spyke's mouth. "Now, if you'll all listen, I'll tell you why I called you all here."

Taking a deep breath, she began, "I have asked you all here toady so that we might discuss a new member of the community and our school, Sarah Farmer. I believe…" She got no further because by that point, everyone had started to protest.

"Erika, this is ridicules," Ikki said, his voice rising over the others.

Koji was nearly as vocal. "Why on Earth did you bring Karin and me here for this? I don't know who goes to your little school and I don't care."

Erika actually waited for things to calm down before she continued. "If you would all listen, I could tell you what is going on." They all finally stopped, if only to hear what kind of insane conclusion Erika had jumped to this time. "Sarah Farmer, for those who don't know, is a girl who just moved here from Tokyo. I have reason to believe she might be planning something," here Erika paused, "evil," she finished dramatically.

Ikki burst out laughing, an action that received a glare from Erika. "That has to be the best one yet," he said, trying to stop laughing. "Erika, this is some joke right? Even you can't be serious about this. That girl wouldn't hurt a fly."

"Oh, and I suppose you've been keeping close tabs on her? I have proof. Do you know what she does during lunch? She watches old robattle clips and does medabot searches on the computer. And she's always watching robattles, but never actually participating in one." Erika started to count points off on her fingers. "She's in the new medabot class, which we all know was hard to get into. But she just got her and was put in the class? Seems suspicious to me. And I've heard some people say they spotted her buying old medaparts at the junkyard. Everyone with sense knows they don't sell old parts there."

Henry began to cough at the last part, hiding a smile. Everyone else just look incredulously at Erika.

Finally, Koji asked the question that was on almost everyone's minds. "What are you trying to say Erika?"

"I'm saying that she obviously had some kind of evil plan involving medabots. Maybe she wants to take over the world. This is why I think we should all think of some way to stop her plans before she can act on them."

"Erika, I think you're wrong," Ikki and Spyke interrupted at the same time. Spyke indicated for Ikki to go first, so he continued.

"So, she likes to watch robattles and stuff on the computer. That doesn't mean she has some evil plan. And I think she got into that class because she really is good at repairing medabots. The first day she got here, she fixed up Metabee's arm." Metabee looked up from a magazine he was looking at, while everyone gave the yellow medabot a quick glance.

"Plus she helped me out earlier this week," Spyke admitted. "I had been robatteling three guys with Crosserdog and when we lost, they tried to take his medal. And, well, Sarah came and helped us out…" He looked nervously about.

"Come on dude, what happened next," Rintaro encouraged.

"Well, I sort of ran away. But then I felt really horrible, so Crosserdog and I came back to see if we could help at all. When we got there though, the guys had all run off and she was just leaving on her bike," he finished.

"Spyke," Samantha said.

"Yeah Boss?"

"You are the lamest medafighter I have ever met," she replied simply.

"But Boss…" Spyke wined.

"So what if she helped you," Erika interrupted. "Maybe she was secretly working with those guys. It could have all been an act to gain our trust."

"I think I might be able to shed some light on the situation," Henry injected. Everyone looked expectantly at him, even Metabee, who had started to take an interest in the conversation.

"Erika, I gave her the idea of getting some medaparts at the junkyard. She asked if there was anywhere around she could get some cheap, used parts, and after she fixed up Metabee's arm, I had a feeling she would be able to get the guy who owns the place to sell her some medaparts." Henry didn't add that he suspected the girl didn't have a medabot. He wanted to see how that one worked out, especially with her apparent skill and interest in medabots. "And I highly doubt she came up with some elaborate plan to gain people's trust since she is supposed to have moved here only a little while ago," he added.

"That still leaves a lot of unanswered questions," Erika began.

"Like what?" Ikki said angrily. "Just give it a rest, will you Erika?" He was frustrated with the way Erika was acting. None of them knew Sarah, yet Erika was jumping to insane conclusions about her. He felt that, after the help she had given him, he needed to at least defend her against Erika.

"Look, I'm going. I'll see everyone later," Ikki said, standing up abruptly. "You coming Metabee?"

"Right behind you," Metabee replied, putting the magazine back. He followed Ikki out of the convenience store. When he looked back, he saw Erika's face and knew Ikki was in for it the next day.

~*~*~*~

Ikki yawned, glancing at the clock. Surprised at how late it was, he leaned forward and flipped off the game system.

"Hey, I was just about to get the high score," Metabee protested, shaking his controller in frustration.

"Sorry Metabee, but we need to go to bed. It's insanely late." Ikki pointed at the clock, causing Metabee to look up.

"Fine," he sighed. The two of them stood up, stretching, and wished Ikki's parents good night as they headed up the stairs.

An hour later, the two of them woke up to hear an urgent tapping at the window. Groggily, Ikki looked around the room, while Metabee just sat up, looking as if her was still asleep.

"What's that?" Metabee asked, trying to figure what was going on.

"I don't know," Ikki answered through a yawn. Looking at his window, he finally saw the source of the sound that had woke up the two of them.

Flapping in front of the window was a parrot, its beak tapping furiously at the window pane. It tumbled into the room with a squawk when Ikki opened the window to let it in.

"Ikki, Metabee, quick, I need your help," Baton said, anxiously fluttering about the room.

"Calm down Baton," Ikki said through another yawn. "What's the matter?"

"It's Rokusho. He's gone missing. I left for a little bit to go see Dr, Aki, and when I came back to where we were supposed to meet up, he wasn't there." The parrot was nearing hysteria, flying around the room, then landing, then taking back to the air.

"Did you wait for him?" Metabee asked, trying not to panic himself. The white medabot wouldn't simply disappear without Baton, that Metabee knew. So the logical guess was that something had happened.

"Yes, of course I waited," Baton replied with a touch of anger. "I waited for hours and when it was obvious he wasn't coming, I went looking for him. But I can't find him anywhere." The last word was almost a shriek and started Baton into an even faster pattern of flying and landing.

"We'll come help look then," Ikki said, now fully awake. "Just let me get dressed. Metabee, go see if Mom or Dad are still awake. If they're not, wake them up. Then tell them what's going on."

Metabee rushed off to do what he had been told, his thoughts full of worry for his fellow medabot. A few minutes later he collided with Ikki on his way back to the boy's room, planning on telling him to hurry up.

"Do you need any help Ikki?" his mother asked as the two were rushing out the door, Baton close behind.

"We've got this Mom," Ikki replied. He was just about to close the door when he popped his head back in. "I think we should be able to find Rokusho, but if we can't can I skip school tomorrow to look for him some more?"

"Of course son," his father replied, "Now go." Thanking his parents, Ikki rushed to catch up with Metabee. When they reached the end of the street, Ikki stopped.

"Lets split up. We can cover more ground that way," Metabee nodded and was about to head off when Ikki stopped him. "Be back at the house by two, okay Metabee? If we haven't found him by then, we might as well wait until the daylight makes things easier for us." Metabee nodded again and rushed off, Baton flying after him.

After frantic hours of searching, Ikki returned to his house empty handed. His only hope was that Metabee and Baton had been more successful. That hope was dashed when he entered the house however.

His parents were still up, his mother looking a bit worried. Ikki then spotted Metabee, Baton perched forlornly nearby. He noticed Metabee was clutching something in his hands, but couldn't tell what until her got closer. When he finally saw what it was, his heart sank.

It was Rokusho's cloak, dirty and wrinkled, as if it had been dropped and left.

"We found it by the river, near the edge of town," Metabee said in explanation, not looking up from the object. "We looked all over, but couldn't find any sings of him." He added in a flat tone.

Ikki just nodded, a bit shocked. Medabots like Rokusho did not just disappear without any trace, and they definitely did not just leave everything important to them behind. As far as Ikki could see, that left only one option. Something horrible must have happened to Rokusho.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

There was fire everywhere, people screaming and the sound of something clanging over the cement. Sarah was hiding from it all, her hands over her ears, body in the fetal position. And she seemed to be watching it all a few feet from her body. Strange that. The noises got louder, coming closer.

Suddenly, noise, fire, everything, stopped. Everything was dark, except for the little area where Sarah was huddled up, still watching everything a bit from her body. Out of the darkness came a shape, the size of a tall tree, if not bigger. The shape came into the little light surrounding Sarah, turning out to be her grandmother.

And Sarah was back in her body, staring up at her grandmother, who looked far more fearsome then ever before. She held out her hand, so Sarah could see the object she held. Sarah knew what her grandmother was going to do and tried to shout at her to stop, beg with her, pled. But her voice wouldn't come and she was frozen in place.

Then her grandmother was closing her hand, about to crush the thing she held while Sarah looked on helplessly-

Sarah awoke with a start, a slight gasp of fear coming from her mouth. She lay there for a bit, waiting for the fear the dream, the nightmare, had brought with it to fade. She had had similar dreams before, although the part with her grandmother was new. Still shaken, Sarah sat up and put on her glasses, glancing at the shadows in her room.

She glanced over at her nightstand, her eye catching the picture that a shaft of moonlight had illuminated.

It depicted a small family, all looking happy. It had been taken outside, in a backyard, the tan house showing slightly in the background. A couple was standing in the center, the male tall and blond, the female of medium height with black hair. Standing a bit behind the man was an older woman, her face a bit sever looking but her pleasure with being around the people in the photo was obvious. Behind the younger female stood an older man, his face pleasant but showing clear sings of age. He had his hand on the young woman's shoulder, in the familiar way of a parent. The young couple was holding a small child, no older then one, the slight signs of blond hair showing on the infants head. In front of the couple stood a pair of medabots, one mainly red, its design biased off of a ram, the other predominantly blue, its design based off of a rabbit.

Sarah felt a bit calmer seeing the old family picture. She longed for a scene like that in her life now, but knew it was part of the past, never to be again. She looked around the room, realizing she wouldn't be able to back to sleep after her nightmare. She sighed and quickly got dressed, setting up her bed when she was done. She glanced at the clock, glad to see it was only half an hour past midnight. Grabbing her laptop bag, she silently walked down stairs.

Rembrandt came over, giving a large doggy yawn, as she was grabbing a flashlight. The two of them went out the backdoor, heading silently for the shed.

They reached it a bit later, Sarah feeling the emotions her nightmare had brought slipping away. With a contented sigh, she unlocked the door, holding it open for the dog. The two of them then got to their planned activities, Rembrandt's being to sleep, Sarah's to update her notes on medabots using the information she had got from watching robattles the past week.

An hour later, Sarah was happily typing something into the computer, occasionally switching to a different page to check up on some fact. She was so into her work she didn't notice when Rembrandt woke up, looking intently at the door.

She noticed when he started to growl however, a low, menacing sound. Sarah went over to him, trying to sooth him before he could start barking. Her efforts did little though, as Rembrandt stood up, continuing to growl at the door, his hackles raised and teeth bared.

That was when Sarah started to get nervous. She was there all by herself, no one knew where she was and there was obviously something outside. She wondered if she should open the door. Maybe whatever it was would go away. Glancing at Rembrandt, she could tell from the way he was acting that whatever was there was nowhere near leavening.

She looked around, fear, real and totally founded, started to churn in her gut, making her panic. Then she realized the situation would get out of hand if she didn't calm down. Taking a deep breath, she thought again. She had the skills to defend herself and on top of that had a very large, and currently very angry, dog with her. She should open the door and scare whatever was out there away. It was probably just some animal.

Before she opened the door, Sarah quickly grabbed a hammer off of the wall, just in case. Then, slowly, she opened the door. Peaking around the edge, she saw nothing. Opening the door a bit more, she peaked out further, still seeing nothing. She then flung the door open, hoping the quick movement would scare whatever was out there.

Sarah was the one who got the scare when something clattered to the ground at her feet. She jumped back quickly, hammer held in front of her like some kind of sword. Rembrandt just went up to the thing that had fallen inside, growling. Sarah guessed this was what had started him off.

Looking closely, heart pounding, Sarah was surprised to see that the thing that had just tumbled inside was a medabot. A rather beat up medabot. Sarah cautiously got closer, wondering what was going on. Stepping carefully over the medabot, she stood outside.

"Hello? Is…is anyone there?" she asked the dark woods. She was debating with herself if it would be worse to get a response or none at all, when the light from the doorway glinted off of something on the ground. Leaning down, Sarah picked it up, examining it in the light.

It was a stag beetle medal, to her surprise. She glanced at the medabot in her shed, guessing the medal had come from it. She was looking around the woods again when something finally registered in her head. Doing a double take that would have gotten some laughs if anyone had been around, Sarah looked at the medabot again.

It was the white medabot that had saved her the week before. She hadn't recognized it right away without the cloak. Looking around again, Sarah made up her mind about what to do.

She went back inside, bringing the medabot in with her, closing the door once they were both inside. Carefully, she laid the medabot in one of the tables, taking in the damage.

And was there a lot of damage! It looked as if the white medabot had been jumped or something. Huge sections of the armor were dented, causing Sarah to shudder at the thought of the state of all the delicate circuitry inside. One of the swords on the right arm was snapped off and it looked like someone had tried to do the same to the other sword. The optics were definitely shot, but that seemed to be the worst that had happened to the head. And the legs were relative fine, just a few minor things to fix by the looks of it.

Sarah looked at the medal she was still holding, wondering what to do. She would only be able to ask the medabot what had happened if she had a medawatch or spare medabot lying around to put the medal in…Sarah's eyes caught the parts she had been fixing up. If the tinpet was okay on the white medabot…

As soon as the idea occurred, Sarah started to take the damaged parts off of the tinpet. She was careful not to cause anymore damage, knowing it would just make things even more difficult to fix. When she had gotten the last of the medaparts off, she was delighted to see the tinpet was still in working order.

Putting her own parts over the tinpet, Sarah soon had a working medabot. Putting in the medal, she held her breath, waiting for some sign that things had worked. A short time later and nothing had happened.

"Hello?" Sarah said timidly, a worried look crossing her face. Maybe the medabot had just fainted? Could medabots faint? Well, maybe it would wake up after a bit. It would be best if Sarah had made at least some progress on her repairs when it did.

Her first priority was to fix the dents in the armor. That was easy enough. She had all the needed tool, and soon had that problem sorted out. She had worried that the armor might crack when she was fixing a particularly large dent in the chest armor, but it had held rather well.

The next order of business was to fix the internal damage. That would be the tricky bit. Checking to see what she would need, Sarah went over to a cardboard box in the corner of the room. On her trips to the scrap yard, Sarah had picked up spare pieces from medaparts that were simply beyond repair, picking out anything that could possibly be salvaged. She was glad now that she had done that because it turned out she actually had most of what she needed. All that she still had to get was the optics piece.

She looked over at the still damaged medaparts, wondering what type they were. It took her a bit, but she finally placed them as KWG type. Really old KWG parts too. That would make finding a new optics piece a bit difficult, but she figured it was possible.

Sarah glanced at the clock before she placed the supplies on the table. Two o'clock in the morning. That left her with another two hours to work before she had to head back home. Not much time, but definite progress would be made by then.

She got to work, having to go and get a small soddering tool at one point, a different piece from the box at another. By four, she had been able to repair all of the damage to the left arm and most of the legs, which had turned out to be far more damaged than she had expected.

Stretching, she shot another concerned look at the still inactive medabot. There still had been no signs of movement, causing her to wonder if maybe the medabot had actually died.

That worry brought up the philosophical question of whether medabots were truly alive but she was far to tired to think about anything like that. She brought her mind to a less difficult question, that being whether or not she should write a note. Deciding it would be a good idea, incase the medabot woke up when she was gone, Sarah ripped a piece of paper out of a notebook and scrawled a short message explaining what was going on. She left it next to the medabot's original parts, then gathered her stuff and left for the house.

When she got there, she had some time left to get an hour of sleep, something she now needed desperately. She went up stairs and nearly passed out on the bed, pressing the snooze button on her alarm twice when it went off an hour later.

Dragging herself out of the bed, Sarah tripped over Rembrandt, who had been lying near her bed. She apologized, as she stumbled forward. Going to the bathroom, she brushed her hair and teeth, giving her clothing a critical look. She had put on new clothes before going to the shed, and they had only gotten a bit wrinkled form her sleeping in them. Figuring they would do, she went down stairs, finishing her preparations for school. She left with a minimum amount of noise, her grandmother still asleep.

School was a bit of a blur, the only facts that seemed to penetrate her cloud of exhaustion were the absence of the black haired kid she had met in the store and the fact that Erika seemed not to be following her.

The school day ended and she tiredly peddled off for the scrap yard. It took a bit, but Mr. Mukia, the man who owned the place, was actually able to find the optics piece she needed. He didn't ask her any questions, for which she was glad. She had no idea how to explain what had happened the night before. Instead, he told her to go home and get some sleep. She told him she would, hoping to do just that after she got some homework done.

She got home, stashing the optics piece in the garage, and greeted her grandmother when she finally entered the house. The old woman glanced over at her from the dishes she was doing and only mumbled something about teenagers not getting enough sleep these days. Sarah just gave a noncommittal grunt and got down to doing her homework.

Once she had that done, she had to take Rembrandt out for a walk. Her grandmother was letting him out during the day again so she could get away with a shorter one than normal. When she got back, she went up to her room and plopped onto the ever so inviting bed, getting a blessed two hours of sleep. Then it was time for dinner and then back to sleep.

Sarah woke up around midnight, feeling more awake then she had all day. Being careful not to trip over Rembrandt, she went through the actions that had become her routine before sneaking out. Everything complete, she headed to the shed, grabbing the optics piece before she left.

Once she got there, she was worried to see that there had been no change in the condition of the medabot. It was still inactive, sitting on the left hand table where she had left it. Still, if the medabot did wake up, she should have its body fixed if she could. Turning to the other table, Sarah got to work.

The torso was no harder then anything else to fix, just time consuming because of all of the damage. It was the head, more specifically the optics piece, that gave her real problems. She almost couldn't repair it, even with the new part. In the end, she was forced to check the internet for instructions. She would have to clear her history later, which would probably make her grandmother a bit suspicious if she checked the laptop soon, but it had to be done.

With that all done, Sarah had only one thing left to fix, the one part she had been putting off. She sat down, looking at the right arm piece, wondering how she could fix it. She definitely did not have the tools needed to fix the sword pieces, even if half of it hadn't already been beyond repair, and she doubted that she would luck out like she had with the optics piece.

She got up, knowing she would have to figure it out later. If she didn't head back to the house, she wouldn't get anymore sleep, and she did not want to chance another exhaustion filled day like the last.

Then it struck her. School, that was the answer. She was supposed to bring in a battle damaged medapart for class, and the arm was definitely damaged. Chances were that she might be able to do something with the tools and supplies the school had. Really, all she had to do was make a new sword and that couldn't be too difficult, surely?

Grabbing up the medapart, Sarah left the shed, giving the medabot whose parts she was trying to fix one last worried look before shutting off the lights and leaving.

------------------------------------------

AN: Sorry about not updating over the weekend, my house lost power. Since I missed last weekend, there will be two updates this week, last weekends and then things go back to the normal Friday Saturday schedule I'm trying to keep. Anyway, thanks to everyone for still reading this, you're all awesome.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

"Did you find him yet?" Erika asked Ikki and Metabee. The three of them were walking to school, all feeling rather depressed.

"No, and I can't spend another whole day looking for him," Ikki said sadly. "We searched everywhere, especial the area where Metabee and Baton found the cloak. No luck though."

"I'll keep looking myself," Metabee said, both to inform them of his plan and give them some hope.

"Well, we can only hope you find him," Erika said, letting out a huge sigh. "If he doesn't turn up by Friday, I'll get something into the school paper for next week. That should at least help."

"I can only hope he does turn up by then," Ikki replied. He glanced at his medawatch as they neared the school. "Looks like we're way early. Hey, Erika, why don't we see if we can find Samantha? She might have heard something. Or maybe Sloan or Spyke."

Erika shrugged, "It's worth a shot I guess. Wouldn't get my hopes up though." The three of had reached the gate and continued up to the door. There, Metabee left the other two, off to go search for Rokusho some more.

Metabee was near the gate, not paying much attention, when someone shouted at him, followed by something nearly running him over.

"Watch out!" followed by a screeching sound, then a loud crash. There was a brief silence, broken by a groan from the fallen bike rider.

Metabee turned around to see an old bike fallen on the ground. Under the bike was a girl Ikki's age, the blond hair not under a helmet in a mess because of the fall, glasses nearly knocked off her face.

"Oh man, I'm sorry," Metabee said, going over to see if the rider was alright.

"No, I shouldn't have been going so fast," the girl replied, getting out from under the bike. "I didn't hit you at all, did I?" she asked, giving Metabee a concerned look.

"No, I'm fine. How about you? That looked like a pretty bad fall," Metabee said. He caught a glimpse of something as she shoved her things back into the basket on the front off the bike. It looked like something white, and maybe a bit of purple and yellow. He didn't see what it was very well though and had only a nagging suspicion that he should recognize the object.

The girl turned to him after putting everything back. She gave her helmet a quick knock, "There's a reason I always wear this thing, despite the horrible helmet hair I get. I'm fine, so don't worry. Thanks for asking." With a pleasant smile and a wave, the girl walked off, pushing the bike next to her.

Metabee gave a small wave back then left, heading down the sidewalk. He was wondering where he should go look for Rokusho first when he suddenly knew what the thing that had been in the girl's bicycle basket was.

It had been Rokusho's sword arm, Metabee was sure. He rushed back, planning on confronting the girl. When he got back to the school yard however, there was no sign of her except for her bike, locked onto the rack near the entrance. He was about to rush into the school and find the girl when he stopped. Maybe he was wrong, as much as he doubted the possibility. If he was wrong, well, it could be embarrassing to accuse her of medabot-napping, to say the least.

In one of his rare occasions of thinking before he acted, Metabee decided the best choice would be to wait and talk to Ikki about it later. That decided he figured he might as well continue looking for Rokusho. He might be wrong about what he had seen, so there was a chance he could still find the other medabot.

He headed off, planning to stop home first and grab Baton. Maybe the two of them could think of somewhere they hadn't looked yet.

"I know I said to bring in a damaged part, but there is such a thing as going to far," Mr. Season said, looking at the arm piece Sarah had on her table. The rest of the class was already working, but Sarah had asked for some help. Mr. Season could see why now.

"But is it fixable?" she asked, not paying much attention to the slight reprimand she had just gotten.

The teacher gave the part a critical look. "I think so. Except for that sword." He saw Sarah's look of disappointment and quickly added, "I know someone who could easily make a new one. Sketch out the shape of the sword and get the length and such, before class ends. I'll have my friend make a new sword by Friday."

"Wonderful. Thank you very much," Sarah replied, already pulling out some graph paper and a measuring tape.

"If you don't mind me asking, what happened to get it like this?"

Paying more attention to sketching the shape of the sword, Sarah answered without thinking, "I have no idea." What she had just said registered when she looked up and saw the surprised look Mr. Season was giving her.

"And how could you not know?" her teacher asked. Sarah had a feeling that saying a random white medabot had appeared at the door of her shed, all beat up and in the middle of the night, would raise some uncomfortable questions. Like, why was she out there in the middle of the night to begin with?

"Well, I just moved into a new house," Sarah began, thinking fast. "And I was working on bringing some stuff to the attic, when I found these old boxes." So far so good, the story was reasonable and Mr. Season seemed to be buying it. "I guess some old owner had left them there. So, I sort of opened them. I found a bunch of old, damaged medaparts. This was one of them and I thought I could fix it up in class." Sarah shrugged, as if it had been just a silly idea she wanted to try.

"That makes sense I suppose," Mr. Season said. He walked away when another student raised their hand for help, first reminding Sarah that he needed the sketch and measurements before class ended.

Sarah got to work, spending most of the class period taking down as much information as she could. She handed the paper to Mr. Season a few minutes before the class ended and he complimenting her thoroughness.

She was putting the part in her locker while Mr. Season made an announcement to the class, "We'll be working on damaged medaparts the rest of the week. If you finish making repairs to a piece before the weeks up, bring in a new one. Practice makes perfect you know." And with that, class was over.

Sarah left, feeling content. She would be able to fix the part, something she felt she had to do since the white medabot had helped her out before. She was still worried that the medal might be damaged but tried to push that worry to the back of her mind seeing as there was really nothing she could do.

All thoughts of worry were forgotten when she got outside. Sarah was greeted by the sounds of a robattle, a large crowd looking on. Sarah got herself to the front of the crowd, trying her best not to push anyone out of the way. She excitedly watched the robattle between someone who she thought she had heard was called Sloan and one of the students from her medabot repair class whose name she couldn't seem to remember.

It was a close match, but in the end Sloan ended up winning, something Sarah suspected was because of his medabots thick armor. If the other medabot had been able to get a few more attacks in, Sarah knew it would have been the winner.

Happily, she cheered with the rest of the crowd when the match ended, glad she had been able to take the time and watch the robattle. When the crowd started to disperse, Sarah got her bike and headed for her house.

When she got there, Rembrandt excitedly jumped up on her, trying to lick her face like he always did. Knowing he was doing it because he was both happy to see her and because he wanted a treat, Sarah pushed him off and walked into the kitchen. She was getting out one of his biscuits when she noticed the bag of dog food, in the same cupboard as the box of treats, was empty.

Surprised she hadn't noticed the lack of food that morning, Sarah went and found her grandmother watching TV.

"Grandma, we're out of dog food. Can I have some money to buy some more?"

Grumbling, the old woman got up and went through her purse. She handed Sarah enough money to buy a good sized bag and told her to be back before five thirty. Sarah thanked her grandmother, assuring her that she would get back to the house on time.

Figuring she could give Rembrandt his walk at the same time, Sarah got out the leash and told him to come as she left. Soon, the two of them were racing for town, all of Sarah's worries and problems briefly forgotten.

"What did the girl look like Metabee?" Erika asked. Erika, Ikki, and Henry had listened while Metabee had told them what he had seen earlier that morning, finishing with what he suspected.

"Blond hair, glasses, tall, green helmet" Metabee replied, thinking.

"Sounds like that girl from last week," Henry noted. "She was riding an old bike as I recall."

"It does sound a lot like Sarah," Ikki admitted reluctantly. For some reason, he disliked the thought that his newest classmate had something to do with Rokusho's disappearance.

"This just proves my theory right," Erika said. "Now you'll have to admit I'm right Ikki. If stealing medabot's doesn't prove she has some kind of evil plan, I don't know what does."

"Metabee just said he thought it was one of Rokusho's medaparts, okay Erika? Now stop gloating and think. How do we find out if that was really one of Rokusho's medaparts that Metabee saw?"

"You could ask her" Henry suggested, pointing out the shop window. Everyone followed the directions he was pointing, surprised by what they saw.

Across the street was Sarah, pushing her bike along with the leash of a large dog tied to one of the handle bars. They watched as she stopped in front of the pet store across the street, then entered the building, leaving her bike and dog outside. A few minutes later she came out with a large bag that she placed in the basket on the front of her bike.

Before anyone could stop him, Metabee was out the door and walking across the street. The other three watched as he went up to the girl and her dog. From the way she was frowning, they could tell Metabee was saying something that would probably cause problems later. Ikki rushed out the door himself when the large dog standing next to Sarah jumped on Metabee, knocking the yellow medabot to the ground.

Sarah reached the pet store where she had bought Rembrandt's tags at, relived to see there was no random chicken guy around like last time. Knowing she would be quick, she left Rembrandt outside with the bike, hurrying inside. She found the dog section easily. It took her a minute to find the right brand of dog food and a bag that would fit in her bike's basket, but soon she was standing in the checkout line.

She was soon walking outside again, carrying the bag. She heaved it into the basket, glad to see its weight didn't snap the light wire contraption off. She was about to leave when she heard a slight growl come from Rembrandt.

Looking in the same direction as her dog, Sarah saw the yellow medabot from earlier marching across the street towards her. He seemed angry and Sarah soon found out why.

"Where's Rokusho?" the medabot demanded.

"Who?" Sarah asked, her brow furrowing.

"Don't play dumb. I know you have him. It's all part of your evil scheme isn't it?" the medabot continued accusingly.

"Look," Sarah said, starting to become angry herself, "I don't know what on Earth you're rambling about. Who's Rokusho? What evil scheme?" Sarah hadn't been paying much attention to Rembrandt, who was still growling, while the conversation had been going on. If she had been, she might have stopped what happened next.

Rembrandt was very fond of Sarah, who, to him, was a biscuit giving, walk taking, angel. This being said, he had a habit of being over protective of her. When the yellow medabot had come storming across the street and then started yelling, he had become mad. When what was being said obviously distressed his mistress, Rembrandt decided to take matters into his own paws.

He knew that if it had been a person yelling at Sarah, he shouldn't jump. The older woman yelled at Sarah all the time and he wasn't allowed to jump on her. He had, however, never been taught not to jump on medabots. So, he leapt. The medabot was close enough that he didn't even pull the bike his leash was attached to down. The medabot squirmed, yelling now at Rembrandt. The dog didn't care and just continued growling.

Sarah was surprised when Rembrandt leapt and took the medabot down. He was normally well behaved in public, so it was a bit of a shock to see him act the way he was.

"Do I look like a chew toy? Get this mutt off of me," yelled the medabot, struggling to get out from under Rembrandt's weight. That snapped Sarah out of her surprise.

"Rembrandt, come," Sarah commanded in a firm, angry voice. Rembrandt looked over at her, back at the medabot he had pinned down, then back at her. He then got off of the medabot and walked over to her, head and tail drooping. He sat next to her, looking so sad Sarah felt the urge to pat him on the head. She knew that would send mixed messages to the dog though, so she didn't.

By this time the medabot's medafighter had come rushing out of the convenience store across the street. She recognized him as the boy from her class, and the fact that this must have been the medabot whose arm she had fixed finally occurred to her.

When the boy reached his medabot, the feeling that Sarah had seen him somewhere before increased, along with the feeling she had seen his medabot. Where had see seen the two before? Had they been to Tokyo before and she had spotted them in a crowd? No, that wouldn't give her the feeling that she should know who they were.

"Look, I'm really sorry about that," the boy said, "Metabee can be a bit of a hot head sometimes. I hope he didn't offend you."

Metabee, she had heard him say that name before in the store. But hadn't she heard it somewhere else before?

Before Sarah could respond or remember where she had seen the two before, Erika came running out of the convince store across the street. "Ikki, is Metabee alright?"

And then it clicked, a flash of realization followed by a sinking feeling in her stomach. She knew why she thought she should know the two. They were members of the world championship team. They had been on the Japanese team six years ago when something had stopped the tournament. They had been on the team again two years later, in the world tournament that had been held early to make up for whatever had stopped the last one from finishing. And their team had won in, what she had heard, was a very intense battle against team Kenya. And now they were standing in front of her.

A small part of her brain was wondering where to get paper and a pen at for autographs and had the urge to give a fangirly squeal. The larger, and angrier, part was trying to come up with something to say that let everyone know just how pissed off it was.

Before that majority could think of anything however, Erika turned on her. "Why don't you get that dog some training? With that sort of discipline, someone's going to end up getting hurt," she said angrily.

Oh. No. She. Did. Not.

"Maybe if someone's medabot hadn't come over here yelling false accusations at me, Rembrandt wouldn't have felt he needed to defend me," Sarah replied, keeping her voice neutral. Rembrandt recognized that voice and cowered down a bit, knowing something bad was coming. He just hoped it wasn't directed at him.

"What kind of name is Rembrandt for a dog?" Erika laughed, not noticing how that same dog was hunkering down.

"Erika…" interrupted Ikki, who had noticed the dog. "Why don't you stay out of this?" he suggested.

"Stay out of this? And let her walk all over you? You obviously don't know how to handle someone who is in the wrong."

"Really? He seemed to be handling how his medabot acted rather well," Sarah interrupted.

"Okay, before things get any worse. Again, let me apologize for what Metabee did," Ikki said, holding his hands up in a sing of peace.

"Don't apologize to her Ikki. It was her dog who jumped on Metabee. Besides, you shouldn't apologize to a thief," Erika said, throwing an accusing look at Sarah.

"What did you just call me?" Sarah said coldly.

"You heard me," Erika replied, "And now it's out in the open, you might as well just tell us. Where is Rokusho?"

"Look what you started Metabee," Ikki whispered angrily to his medabot.

"Look, I'm sorry…" Metabee began, seeing that Ikki was right.

Sarah just spoke over him, her gaze stuck on Erika. "I'll say it for the benefit of those not here the last time. I don't know who this Rokusho is."

"Stop lying and just tell us. We're already onto your plan, so just tell us where you're hiding him."

"I repeat myself for those of us who are a bit slower on the uptake," Sarah said, getting the hoped for look of anger from Erika. "I do not know who Rokusho is," she said slowly, as if talking to a young, uninteligent child. "I don't have some plan, evil or otherwise, except to go back to my house. Now if you'll excuse me." She started to push her bike away from the group, her dog following.

"Stop right there," Erika ordered, taking a step forward. She stopped when Sarah turned and glared at her.

"I will not stop. I refuse to stand here and have false accusations hurled at me by a mediocre, want-a-be reporter and an obviously unmannered medabot. Good day," she said, turning abruptly and pushing her bike away from the stunned group.

She was out of sight by the time Ikki said anything. "Metabee…"

"Hey, it wasn't my fault. Or, at least, not the last part," Metabee added, looking over at Erika. Erika just glared at the both of them, then marched back to the store.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: Just to like to reiterate that I don't own medabots. Or the song _Animal I Have Become_ by Three Days Grace, a song that I used some lyrics from in this chapter.

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**Chapter 9**

Sarah unlocked the door to the shed, trying to point the flashlight at the key hole and stop the strap of her laptop case from falling down at the same time. She eventually got the door open without dropping anything, relived to finally be entering her sanctuary.

The first thing she did was go and check on the medabot, who, as she had feared, still had not moved. Sighing, she sat down in the chair, letting her neck hang over the back so that the room appeared to be upside down. Sitting there, she tried to let all of her frustrations from the day just go away, but it didn't really work.

Sitting up properly in the chair, Sarah picked up her laptop bag and rummaged inside of it. She found what she wanted and pulled it out, staring at it. It was a bag filled with very new looking microchips for medabot parts.

After her confrontation with Erika, Sarah had stopped by the scrap yard before heading back for the house. She had been hoping that Mr. Mukia would have gotten some new used medaparts he was willing to sell her. When she had come inside though, he had handed her the bag, saying he thought she might find it useful. She had tried to pay him, but he had instead told her it was a gift for someone who enjoyed repairing medaparts like he did. She had thanked him profusely of course, but he had just waved the thanks aside, telling her it would be thanks enough when he finally got to see some of her work in action. She had just stuttered a good bye after that and left.

And now here she was with the new components. She glanced over at the repaired medaparts. She had used some rather old microchips to replace the damaged ones…Soon, Sarah lost herself in her work, making mental notes of things she thought she could tweak to increase the medabots speed. Music was coming from her portable MP3 speakers while Sarah occasionally sang along with the lyrics in a slightly off key voice. The noise and the fact that she wasn't really paying much attention to anything caused Sarah to miss the slight movement coming from behind her.

_So what if you can see the darkest side of me? _

Blackness was slowly replaced by sight; circuits that had been inactive for years came back to life. Slowly, Rokusho woke up, feeling very odd.

_No one will ever change this animal I have become._

Slowly, Rokusho became less disorientated. As his senses returned, he realized he was not in his body. Somehow he had ended up in a medabot composed of a variety of different medaparts, all old but in good shape.

_Help me believe, it's not the real me. Somebody help me tame this animal I have become. _

The music finally registered. Rokusho looked up, trying to find the source of the sound. What he saw instead was the back of a teenage girl, leaning over something on the table in front of her. When he finally saw what she was leaning over, Rokusho was shocked.

_I can't escape myself. _

It appeared to be his body, in much better repair then his memory told him it should be, although his right arm seemed to be missing.

_So many times I've lied. But there's still rage inside._

Getting his mind off of what was directly in front of him, Rokusho took in his surroundings. He appeared to be in a small tool shed or workshop. There were boxes in the corners, filled with who knew what. Near the only door a large, grey dog slept on a rather tattered looking rug.

_Somebody get me through this nightmare. I can't control myself._

There was a window high up on one of the walls. Looking through it, Rokusho could see it was pitch black out. It had been dark when he had gotten away, so maybe he hadn't been out that long. That brought up the question of how long had he been there. Wherever "there" was.

_Somebody wake me from this nightmare._

He was supposed to meet up with Baton hours ago, he knew that though. He had to leave soon and go find his friend, who, he guessed, would be panicking by now.

_I can't escape this cell. _

The song continued for a bit longer then ended. When it did, the girl in the chair leaned down and pressed something, just as the next song was beginning, stopping it abruptly. Standing up, she turned around, looking at something up on the wall behind Rokusho. Receiving another shock that night, Rokusho found out that the girl was the same one he had saved last week. Almost ironic seeing as that incident had led to him being where he was…

The song finished and Sarah turned off her music, figuring it was getting late. Getting up, she looked up at the clock and was pleased to see she actually had more time than she had thought. Before she went back to what she was doing, she gave the medabot with the medal in it a quick glance.

To her surprise and delight, the lights in its optics were on and she could tell it had moved from the previous position it had been in.

"Oh good," Sarah found herself saying, "I thought you had died or something."

The medabot looked taken aback, both by her statement and the fact that she had spoken in general. "Died?" the medabot asked, confused.

"Yeah," Sarah said, turning her chair around so she could face the medabot, but still sit down, "died. You've been out for…What is this, the third night? So, about two days, three nights."

This statement just seemed to panic the medabot. "Two days. Oh no, Baton must be insane with worry." Clumsily, not used to the new body, the medabot got off the table he had been sitting on and headed for the door.

"Hey, wait," Sarah said, causing the medabot to stop. "You can't leave yet. For one thing, you don't have your proper body back. For another, those are my medaparts."

"I appreciate what you are doing, but I must go. I'll bring back your medaparts, I'm sure your medabot won't mind missing some spare parts for a few days," the medabot said, heading for the door again.

Once more, Sarah stopped him. "Sorry, no can do. Like I said, you've been out of it for nearly three days now. That can only mean something serious happened to your medal and I won't take responsibility for you running off to see your medafighter and then getting in worse shape because you overexerted yourself." She reddened a bit, adding, "Besides, I don't have a medabot and those are honestly my only medaparts. I had to use your tinpet just to get that together."

"I don't have a medafighter," the medabot said, giving Sarah a strange look. Sarah was taken aback by that statement. A medabot without a medafighter? Well, that was about as likely as a kid not having a medabot…Her thoughts trailed off when she realized just how likely that made it. Slim but possible if she was any proof.

"If this Baton isn't your medafighter, then who is he?" Sarah asked, trying to get her mind on something else. Before the medabot could answer, Sarah had figured it out though. "Baton isn't that parrot you had with you, is he? You know, the one with you when you helped me out?"

"That would be him," the medabot replied, nodding.

"What is up with that parrot, if you don't mind me asking?" Sarah had a lot of questions for the medabot, now that he could answer them.

"It's complicated. Let us just say Baton is a good friend of mine. Now if you don't mind…" again, the medabot started for the door.

"Oh, stop it. You're staying here for a bit and that's final. I am not going through all the work of fixing your body, just for you to do something stupid and damage your medal." Standing up, Sarah went and grabbed one of the boxes in the corner of the room. She placed it in front of the chair she had been sitting in, then sat on the box. "Here, you can sit there," she said, indicating the chair she had just vacated.

The medabot hesitated for a second, so Sarah added, "You're the guest, so you get the chair. Besides, before I even think about letting you leave, I have some questions to ask."

Reluctantly, the medabot came and sat down. His actions made Sarah feel a bit guilty about keeping him, but she really was worried something would happen to his medal and was not inclined to take any chances. "Look, if it'll make you feel any better, I can go find your friend tomorrow and let him know you're okay. It can't be that hard to find some random parrot," Sarah offered, hoping to make the medabot stop worrying and her conscience shut up.

"I suppose that might work," the medabot said, sounding relived at the solution.

"Good. Now, first, I'd like to thank you for helping me out last Monday. You sort of left before I could," Sarah said.

"It is my duty to help those in need of protection," the medabot replied nonchalantly. "Besides," he added, "I feel it is I who should be thanking you, for the help you are giving me."

Sarah waved his thanks aside. "No big deal. I couldn't exactly leave you a banged up outside my door, now could I? Plus, you shouldn't thank me until you're back in your own body. Then we'll know if I fixed anything."

The medabot didn't responded, so Sarah continued. "By the way, I'm Sarah Farmer. The dog's name is Rembrandt," she indicated the dog, who moved slightly in his sleep at the sound of his name. "Who might you be?"

"My name is of no importance," the medabot replied, a bit automatically to Sarah's ears.

"Yeah, right. Addressing someone as something other than 'you' is so overrated," she retorted. "None of this mysterious medabot mumbo-jumbo. Out with the name please."

"There is no need for you to know my name. I will leave soon, and I doubt we will meet again."

"You're here until Friday night, so you might as well tell me your name." The medabot just stared at her, so she tried a different argument. "Look at it this way, I've already introduced myself. It would be rude not to give me the same courtesy."

That tactic seemed to work because after a brief pause the medabot finally answered her, "My name is Rokusho."

That took Sarah by surprise. Rokusho was the name of the medabot that Erika and Metabee had been looking for. But that meant… "Oh crud," Sarah said, putting her head in her hands, "God, the universe really hates me, doesn't it?"

"What?" asked Rokusho, concern in his voice.

"You wouldn't by any chance know a Metabee would you? Or a girl named Erika? An Ikki maybe?" She really hoped the answer would be no.

"I know all of them actually," Rokusho replied, "Why?"

"It's just, earlier today, they sort of came up to me, lets just say, asking if I'd seen you," Sarah really didn't want to tell Rokusho that she had been accused of stealing him and of having some evil plan. She really did not get the last part, but it was all rather embarrassing now that the same medabot they had been looking for was in front of her.

"I told them no, but Erika and Metabee didn't believe me," Sarah continued. "I can't figure out why they thought I'd seen you. I took you right arm into school to fix it up, but it's not like any of them saw it."

"My guess would be they found out somehow," Rokusho said, "And if I know Metabee, he jumped to the conclusion that you had kidnapped me."

"Yeah, that last part sounds about right," Sarah confirmed.

"He can be a bit of a hot head," Rokusho commented. "Thinking before he acts is definitely not one of his strongest skills."

"Now it turns out you're here though, and earlier I told them I had no idea who you were," Sarah pointed out.

"I'm sure things can be straightened out." Rokusho paused, then continued, "I know this is obviously asking a lot, but could you tell them I'm alright. It would be an opportune moment to explain things to them," he added when he saw the look of horror on Sarah's face.

She sighed, looking up at the ceiling, "I suppose, since you're finally going to stay here until I get you all fixed up."

"Thank you, I appreciate it," Rokusho replied. "Now, I have a question of my own."

"Ask away," came the reply.

"Could you please explain how I got here? My memory is a bit clouded on that detail."

"I'm not to sure on the details myself," Sarah answered truthfully. "I was in here a few nights ago, when Rembrandt started growling at the door. When I opened the door, you just tumbled inside. Your medal was on the ground right outside the door. You had suffered a lot of damage."

Rokusho just nodded, giving no explanation as to why he had ended outside her door looking like someone had used him as a metal punching bag.

"My turn for a question again," Sarah said. "What happened for you to get so banged up?"

Rokusho looked at her for a few seconds, then replied. "I suppose I should tell you. It does involve you in a way." That statement just confused Sarah, but she didn't interrupt.

"Well, I had been waiting for Baton, down by the river, when a large group of medafighters and there medabots showed up and surrounded me. I asked them what they wanted, but none of them replied.

"You remember your attackers from Monday, correct?" Sarah nodded, wondering what that had to do with anything. "Well, the boy who was obviously there leader stepped out from behind some of the people surrounding me. He told me that he was there to get my medal and teach me a lesson for what I had done to him the week before.

"I told him I had no intension of fighting and tried to leave. I should have been paying more attention to what some of the others had been doing, because they chose that moment to attack. I was able to fend them off for awhile, but when the entire group took up the attack, I was overwhelmed by shear numbers.

"I got away eventually, but they continued to chase me for quite some time. The last thing I can remember clearly is heading into the woods as it was getting dark out."

"And you ended up here," Sarah finished for him. "I am really sorry about this. It looks like this is all my fault. If you hadn't helped me, they wouldn't have gone after you."

"It is not your fault that cowards can not fight fare," Rokusho said. "I would be careful though. The leader said that they would come after you next. You should keep your guard up."

"I will, thank you for the warning," Sarah said. It appeared that the leader's threat as he had been running away had been far from empty. Well, she would just have to keep alert. Forewarned was forearmed they say.

"Why were you here so late that night? This night as well for that matter?" Rokusho asked, interrupting her thoughts.

"That is a very good question," Sarah said, wondering how she should answer. "One with an answer that would take to long to explain properly," she said, taking a page form the medabot's own book. "Let us just say it's a family related issue."

The answer didn't really seem to satisfy the medabot, but he accepted it. The question reminded Sarah to check the time. It was a quarter past three, time for her to head back.

"I've got to head back to my house," Sarah said, getting up. "Would you mind staying here while I'm gone? I'll be back tonight, I promise."

"I have a feeling I'm not getting much choice in the matter," Rokusho replied. He didn't sound resentful however, so Sarah smiled.

"Sorry about you having to stay here. I would invite you over to my house but…"

"It's a family issue?" Rokusho supplied.

"Yeah. Sorry again," Sarah said, relived that Rokusho understood. "Fell free to go through the boxes. Not really anything of interest, but it beats doing nothing. And the door is locked on the outside," she added. "So, if you do plan on leaving, you're not getting back in until I unlock the door."

"I'll keep that in mind," Rokusho replied.

"Well, I'll see you then," Sarah said, waving good bye. She grabbed her stuff and woke up Rembrandt. Leaving the light on, she left the shed, locking the door behind her. As she traveled away from the shed, her flashlight showing the way, Sarah hoped that the medabot didn't have a problem with her keeping him there. She really was worried about his medal. Besides, he might end up near the house and if her grandmother found him, well, he might just want to deal with that gang of medafighters again instead.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Sarah worked on the repairs she had not been able to get to get to in class the day before. If she looked past the simple amount of damage, it really was simple repair work that required little concentration on her part, allowing her mind to wander.

First she thought about Rokusho and the number of problems having him around brought. She had left him in the shed and he had said he would stay there, but she honestly wouldn't blame him if he left. There wasn't exactly all that much of interest there and when she really thought about it, she did feel as if she had kidnapped him or something. Maybe she would head there early. She could tell her grandmother she was taking Rembrandt for a walk, then double back the shed. That might work. That solution made her feel a bit better.

Then there was the problem of telling Ikki and Erika. She had seen them both a few times during the day and she could have told them about Rokusho at any of those moments. But, well, Erika had shot her dirty looks every time they had seen each other and Ikki...

When she thought about it, her problem with Ikki was that he was the world champion. For Sarah, it was like going to school with a favorite actor but times a hundred. And after yesterday it was just embarrassing to even think about talking to him. So, how could she tell either of them about Rokusho?

She had to tell them though, she had told Rokusho she would. She had told him she would find the parrot too. Well, at least she hadn't had an argument with the bird. Still, that wasn't going to be easy either.

Sarah sighed, pulling out a broken microchip and replacing it with a new one. If only she could fix her life as easily as she could medaparts. Then she wouldn't be in this situation.

She continued working, to lost in her own thoughts to notice the glances some of her fellow students were throwing her. They had all seen how damaged the part was and were shocked that she had been able to repair so much of so quickly. They could recognize talent when they saw it and the new girl definitely had a talent with medabots that was for sure.

Sarah was eventually pulled out of her thoughts and work when the bell rang. Quickly, she cleaned up, knowing she would be able to finish the next day. She was going to ask Mr. Season about the sword but noticed he was on the phone. Figuring she should just stop worrying, she left the classroom with the rest of the students, planning see if she could find that parrot.

Class was just about to end when the phone rang. Wondering who could be calling him, Season picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"Hello, Brian?" said the voice on the other line.

Season recognized the voice instantly. "I'm here. And you know you shouldn't be calling during the school day."

"Sorry," replied the male voice on the other end. "I just wanted to tell you I have that piece you wanted, so you can come pick it up. Made it out of a new alloy we just came up with too. Lighter and stronger then the stuff we normally use."

"I'm glad to hear that," Season said, watching as his students filed out after the bell rang. "I'll come get it about an hour."

"Wonderful. I was wondering though, why do you need that sword piece? I know that it's not for your medabot."

Season chuckled, watching as his newest student packed up and left a little after the rest. She really was very talented. "The reason just walked out actually. It's for one of my students to tell you the truth," he answered. "She brought the arm piece in for class, in such a state most people would have left it for unfixable. She didn't want to just leave it though, so I thought I could give her a hand by having you make a new sword for it."

"And this student is actually fixing the piece properly?"

"Oh yes. From what I can tell, she's actually replacing all of the older components with new, up to date, ones. As we both know, that will definitely increase the performance of the part."

"So," mused the voice, "you're telling me a high school student not only has the skill to repair, from what you tell me, an extremely damaged part but has the forethought to increase its efficiency at the same time?"

"The last part might just be her being over dedicated to her work," Season replied. "The other students all use the older components I bring in for class use. She actually brought in her own supplies, all new."

"Well, that is interesting to say the least. But there is more to medabots then just repair work."

"I have a feeling she is skilled robattler too. Given the right chance."

"Well then, are you going to tell me this student's name? Or are you going to continue to use a pronoun?"

"Sarah Farmer," Season answered.

There was a brief pause on the other end. "Sarah Farmer. Really? I've been hearing some interesting things about that girl actually," the caller eventually said.

"Most interesting of all being that she doesn't seem to _have_ a medabot?"

"Or so the rumor goes," the caller confirmed.

"None of her fellow students seem to have caught on yet," Season added.

"I wouldn't expect them to. They come from a generation where the simple thought of not having a medabot is considered ridicules. Us old folks know it's possible not to have a medabot and still live"

"Old yourself," Season said, chuckling again. "I'm only in my thirties. Anyway, I'll be there in a bit. Thanks again Dr. Aki."

"No problem," answered Dr. Aki. "I guess I'll leave you to your scholarly duties then." With that the doctor hung up, leaving Season laughing quietly to himself.

Before heading back to her house, Sarah was going to look around for Baton. She had no idea where to start looking however, so she just rode her bike around the area, hoping she might spot the parrot.

That method of searching eventually brought her in to the shopping district, near the pet store. Frustrated, she stopped her bike, looking around. She was near the convenience store and still hadn't seen a sign of the bird. She had just ridden past the store when an idea stuck her. She could ask the store clerk if he had seen the parrot. He had been very helpful that first day, so it was worth a shot.

Sarah turned, heading back the way she had come. This angle allowed her to get a good look through the store window. What she saw caused her to put on her brakes, worried.

Sitting in the store, talking to the clerk, sat Ikki. Sarah could see Erika and Metabee with him, making her decide not to go in. That plan was ruined when Ikki moved, allowing her to see something on the counter.

There was a parrot, pacing back and forth on the countertop. Biased on the fact that there could not be that many parrots wandering around Sarah guessed that it was Baton. That meant she would have to go inside. And tell Baton about Rokusho. In front of the other three.

Leaving her helmet on, Sarah entered the store. The entrance bell rang, causing everyone to look over at her. When they saw who it was most of them looked surprised, although Erika opted for glaring at her. Sarah began to worry that the reporter crack from yesterday might have been going too far.

Focusing on the parrot Sarah walked up to the group, wishing something would happen to make her stop what she was doing. Like a hole opening beneath her feet and swallowing her up. No hole materialized, much to her disappointment, and she was soon standing in front of everyone.

"Are you Baton?" Sarah asked the parrot quickly, feeling extremely foolish.

"Yes I am. Why?" the parrot answered. Sarah figured the best thing to do would be to tell everyone what was going on at once. Then get out of there as fast as she could.

"I'm supposed to tell you, all of you actually, that Rokusho is okay. He should be all fixed up by Friday, so you should see him then." No one moved or said anything, an event Sarah took advantage of. "Well, that's it. Just letting you know. Got to go."

Sarah was out of the store in a heartbeat. By they time they came out of the store, shouting after her, she was already a few blocks away, peddling faster then she had in a long time.

Ikki came back into the store out of breath. He and Metabee had run in the direction they suspected Sarah had headed but had seen no sign of her. When they entered Ikki just looked up at everyone and shook his head.

The moment he sat down, Erika was talking. "What did I tell you? That girl did know something. We have to go find her." Erika was working herself up, pacing back and forth, shooting everyone angry looks.

"Erika, I just tried to catch her so she could explain things to us," Ikki said. "She was nowhere in sight and I doubt anyone knows where she lives, so it's not like we can go charging up to her home, as I am sure you want to." This just got Ikki a particularly nasty glare from Erika.

"At least Rokusho is okay," Baton spoke up, the first thing he had said since Sarah had given them the news and left.

"Or at least, relatively okay," Henry added. "She did say he would be fixed up by tomorrow. That implies something happened to him."

"But he's obviously able to ask her to come tell us he's fine," Metabee pointed out.

"Or she was lying to us and he's not okay. And I'm sure now she was lying yesterday," Erika said.

"I doubt it," Ikki countered. "She seemed to be telling us the truth yesterday when she told us she didn't know who Rokusho was. She seemed to be telling us the truth about Rokusho just now too. So it would be safe to guess she found out who Rokusho was sometime between yesterday and today."

"That makes sense," Henry pointed out to Erika.

"No it does not. What are the chances that she runs into Rokusho in that short time period when we've been looking for him most of the week?"

"If only she hadn't run off like that," Metabee complained.

"You can't exactly blame her," Ikki said. "We did give her a hard time yesterday and then she has to come and tell us she was wrong. After some of the accusations from yesterday, she probably expected us to call the cops on her."

"We could still do that," Erika said hopefully. That idea only met with a less then pleased reception, especially on Ikki's part.

"Look, she said Rokusho would be fixed tomorrow, right?" Henry interjected before a fight could start between the two. "So, we can just wait until then and ask Rokusho himself what happened. Problem solved."

"I guess," Erika reluctantly agreed.

"Sounds fine to me," Ikki said, standing up. "Well, Metabee and I have to get going. Will you be heading for Dr. Aki's Baton?"

"Yes," the parrot answered, "I can tell him that we at least know Rokusho is okay."

"See everyone tomorrow then," waving to everyone, the two of them left.

Sarah hit the flashlight on the palm of her hand in frustration. The light it was giving off was getting noticeable dimmer, a sure sign that Sarah needed to replace to batteries. She continued to walk, trying to see what the fading flashlight wasn't showing.

She had been able to get to the shed earlier like she had hoped but had been able to spend very little time there. She had told Rokusho that his friends knew he was okay and he had thanked her for telling them. They had talked about the gang of medafighters a bit, wondering if the would come after Rokusho again and when they might go after Sarah. On the whole however, Sarah had only spent very little time in the shed, having to leave before the time her grandmother had given her was gone.

And now she was at the shed again, with more time on this visit. The plan was to finish the repair work she had been doing the night before, then she could talk with Rokusho some more.

When she entered the shed, Sarah was surprised to see Rokusho was actually going over the repair work she had done. He looked up when she entered, then went back to his examination.

"I didn't mess anything up, did I?" Sarah asked worriedly, walking over to look at the repaired medaparts herself.

"Everything seems fine," Rokusho assured her. "I was just wondering how you could do such a skilled job is all."

"The only difficult part was putting in the new optics piece, so it's not really a big deal," Sarah replied, glad she hadn't screwed up and done more harm then help. She walked over to the opposite wall, taking down the tools she needed. Rokusho looked over at her questioningly.

"I was putting in some new chips yesterday and I wanted to finish the job," Sarah explained.

"Why?" asked Rokusho as she got to work.

"Because all of the chips used in your medaparts before and after I fixed your parts up were rather old. No offence," she quickly added.

"None taken," Rokusho assured her. "That still doesn't explain much though."

"The older the components making up the medaparts are, the worse the parts work," Sarah began explaining, not thinking Rokusho might be asking about something else. "They work slower and have a habit of breaking down faster. Since I just got these new chips, I figured I could replace all your old ones." Sarah glanced into the bag she had. "I should have just enough too."

After a moment of silence, she added, "You don't mind do you?"

Rokusho shook his head, "No. I'm still wondering why though."

"I thought I just explained that," Sarah said, getting back to work.

"I meant why are you doing this for me?"

"Umm…Because I should? I don't know, it's just the right thing to do I guess," Sarah answered, wondering why her reasoning was important.

"You're not my medafighter though, so why should you concern yourself with such matters?" Rokusho continued. "Merely fixing all of the damage would have been enough for most people."

"Yeah, well," Sarah tried to think of a way to explain it. "I just like to help medabots. I bet doctors like to help people live better, healthier lives. I'm like that with medabots." Sarah had never had to explain why she liked fixing medabots, helping them get closer to what she saw as their fullest potential.

She could tell Rokusho was staring at her but didn't turn around. If the explanation sounded weird or insane or whatever, she couldn't help that. She had no other way of explaining her feelings on the issue.

Finally, the medabot spoke. "I can see what you're saying," he said slowly. "But if this is how you feel, I can't understand why you don't have a medabot."

"Like I said yesterday, it's a family issue," Sarah replied, not turning around. She really hated having to talk about her grandmother's feelings on medabots. It was especially embarrassing when she had to explain those feelings to a medabot. "It's complicated okay? Like your parrot friend."

Rokusho sighed, "Baton is a robotic parrot. He was created by my medafighter. The two of us very good friends because of our shared past."

That caught Sarah's attention. Stopping what she was doing, she turned around to face the medabot. "Why did you just tell me that?"

"Because I felt you would finally answer my questions if you knew more about me," Rokusho answered calmly. "And now that I have shared something about myself, it is your turn to return the courtesy," he continued, bringing back what she had said the night before, just as she had done to him.

"Fine, you win," Sarah answered, turning back to her work. She might explain things, but that didn't mean she had to look at him as she did. "My grandmother hates medabots, okay. She thinks they're nothing more then emotionless robots, good only for destruction. She's forbidden me to have anything to do with them. If she catches me having anything to do with them there are problems"

"Then why are you here helping me if it will cause you problems? And how did you know how to fix all of that damage if you aren't supposed to have anything to do with medabots?" Rokusho asked. Sarah was relived to hear only curiosity in his voice.

"I'm a poor listener," Sarah answered. She was just finishing up her work but had no intention of turning around. "I've know enough medafighters who don't care what Grandma thinks. They've let me fix up their medabots when I lived by them. I learned from that and some books I've gotten from libraries. I've always liked medabots, so I just can't help wanting to fix them since I can't have one."

She sighed, looking at her hands. Rokusho didn't say anything and Sarah got the feeling he was waiting to hear more. Sighing again, she continued, "I can usually keep her from finding out that I'm disobeying her for awhile, but she normally finds something out. Then she goes ballistic. And my most resent 'transgression' as she calls it, well, I'm surprised all we did was move."

Finally, Sarah turned around and faced Rokusho. He was just standing there staring at her, making her feel rather uncomfortable. If he was waiting for her to tell him anymore he could forget it. He had just found out much more about her then she had about him.

"Thank you for tell me all of that," Rokusho said after a short period of time.

"You're welcome, although I feel I ended up with the worst end of that bargain," Sarah replied a bit grumpily. Despite how she acted however, she felt better after opening up even if it had only been a little.

Rokusho nodded, "I suppose I won't ask anymore prying questions then."

"That's nice. I'll try to do the same. I get the feeling that doesn't leave either of us with many more questions however." Rokusho chuckled, something Sarah found a bit surprising seeing how serious the medabot acted.

"I suppose you're right. Well, why don't you tell me about yourself, then you can leave out anything you want," he suggested.

"Sounds fine, but you get to do the same when I'm done," Sarah said, getting up to grab the box she had sat on yesterday. Rokusho took it from her however, and sat in it himself, leaving the chair for her. She thanked him, then sat down.

"Where to begin?" Sarah said, thinking. It always seemed hard to think of something to say about yourself when you actually needed to. "Well, I live with my grandmother and Rembrandt. I just moved here from the Tokyo area, where we lived for about two years. Before that I lived all over America." Pausing, she wondered what else she could say. "Oh, and I like the color blue and cheeseburgers."

Once she had finished Rokusho just sat there, causing Sarah to worry that maybe she had said something immature. When Rokusho spoke up she stopped worry, realizing he had been having a hard time figuring out what to say himself as well.

"I have traveled around myself, although I stayed in Japan," he began. "I used to live with my medafighter, Professor Hushi, but he died." Rokusho stopped after the last part, making Sarah suspected there was more to that particular story, although she refrained from asking.

Seeming to have gotten control of himself, Rokusho continued. "I eventually ended up here, where I met many different people and medabots, not all of them good." He stopped and didn't continue, something Sarah took to mean he was done.

"Thank you for tell me all of that Rokusho," Sarah said once he had finished.

"And thank you for telling me about yourself," Rokusho replied politely. After that the two of them just sat there silently, thinking about what they had just learned and about their own pasts.

The silence was broken by a loud yawn from Sarah, who tried her best to hide it. "Why don't you head back to your house? You seem very tired," Rokusho suggested kindly.

"Would you mind horribly?" Sarah asked, trying unsuccessfully not to yawn again. "I feel so bad leavening you here all on your own."

"I will be fine, thank you for your concern." Both Sarah and Rokusho stood up. When Sarah continued to hesitate, the medabot gave her a gentle push towards the door. "It's not good for you to miss so much sleep. Now go," Rokusho said firmly.

"Good night then Rokusho," Sarah said through another yawn, waking up Rembrandt before she headed out.

"Good night Sarah," Rokusho said as she left, politely shutting the door behind her. Yawning again, glad Rokusho had sent her off for the house, Sarah stumbled through the darkness back to her increasingly inviting bed.

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AN: Okay, so just a little note. I know that biased on the first season Dr. Hushi is still alive. But I've always thought that saved by aliens thing was a bit lame, so, for the intents and purposes of this fanfic he died in the fire. Sorry if that disappoints anyone. Thank you all for reading this far.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Before heading for her last class of the day, Sarah first looked down the hallway, glancing left then right before rushing to her destination. All day Erika had been trying to talk to her while she tried to avoid Erika. Well, Sarah suspected Erika wanted to talk. With the look she had on her face every time she spotted Sarah, the brunet might want to just kill her right on the spot.

Not that Sarah blamed her for those sentiments. After yesterday, well, she was more surprised Ikki hadn't been asking her questions in class today. Glancing over her shoulder, Sarah entered the class, hoping Erika didn't know her class schedule somehow. There was no angry reporter standing in the classroom though so Sarah guessed her childish avoidance tactics had worked.

"Ah, Sarah, just the person I was looking for." Mr. Season came over to Sarah, holding a wrapped bundle. "Here you are," he said in a pleased voice, handing her the bundle.

"Oh, thank you," Sarah said, surprised. She took the bundle over to the table she sat at and unwrapped it. Mr. Season was watching her reaction as she saw what was inside.

"Oh wow," Sarah said in a hushed voice as she picked the sword piece up. "This is really light. I didn't know they made weapons this light." Mr. Season smiled while Sarah examined the yellow, pincer like sword.

"They normally don't," Mr. Season said. "My friend used a new alloy the Medabot Corporation just came up with. Far lighter then anything else they've used in the past."

"That's awesome. How strong is it though?" Sarah asked, suddenly sifting from amazement to skepticism. "I don't want it snapping after only a little impact."

"My friend assures me it's also one of the strongest alloys they have used," Mr. Season replied with a chuckle. Sarah thought she heard him mumble something about suspecting she would ask that.

"What?" Sarah asked, looking over at her teacher.

"Just saying I'm glad it seems to meet your standards. The bell is about to ring so get your things ready," he answered, heading over to his desk.

"Thanks again," Sarah said, eagerly heading to her locker and pulling out everything she needed.

When the hour was finally over, Sarah had the arm piece fully repaired. Shoving her tool box into the bottom of her bag instead of her locker like normal, Sarah picked up the part and left, impatient to be back at the shed. She planned to head directly there so she could put Rokusho back together and he could head back to his parrot friend.

"Hello again Brian," Dr. Aki said once Season had picked up the phone.

Season sighed, glancing at his empty classroom. "Hello Dr. Aki. Didn't we go over you calling me during work already?"

"Come now, we both know the school day is over. So, how did it go?"

"How did what go?" Season asked, feigning ignorance.

"How did the girl react when you gave her the piece?"

"She was rather happy to get it. First thing she did was gush over how light it was."

"That's all?" Aki asked, sounding a bit disappointed.

"No, then she asked me how strong the metal was, telling me she didn't want it falling to pieces easily."

"Hmm…this shows promise. It appears that supporting the start of that class was worth it."

"I still can't fathom how you convinced the board to fund this."

"Simple skill," Aki replied with his normal modesty.

"Am I correct in assuming they don't know your real reasons for funding this class?"

"Yes you are. The board doesn't need to know I'm looking for someone to take over when I finally retire. Of course, retirement is years away."

"Because the world still needs the genius of Dr. Aki," Season said dryly, rolling his eyes even though the older man could not see him.

"Precisely," Aki replied, ignoring the sarcasm. "And while anyone we find will be nowhere near my genius, we can still find a talented replacement in that class, I'm sure of it."

"And you expect Sarah to be that person." Season's comment was a statement, not a question. As enlarged an ego Dr. Aki had, he could still recognize talent.

"I have my hopes." Suddenly, Aki changed the subject. "Did she by any chance tell you where she got that part at?"

"Said she found it in her attic," Season replied, "I suspect she was lying though."

"I know she was," Aki chuckled. "Have you heard of a medabot named Rokusho by any chance?"

"A little bit here and there. He's the one without a medafighter and has a rare medal, right?"

"That would be him," Aki confirmed. "He has been missing since Monday night though."

"Shouldn't you find that a bit more worrying? If he has a rare medal, well, just remember six years ago," Season said, his own concerns clear in his voice.

"I was worried, until you asked me for that sword piece. I suspected it belonged to Rokusho. He's an older medabot and you really don't see many like him around anymore. Since you asked for the piece, I figured he couldn't be in bad care a least."

"So that's why you asked why I needed the sword," Season said, realization dawning.

"Yes. It turned out to be one of your students, yet another reason not to be worried. What could a high school student possible do that would threaten the world?"

"Although she obviously had something to hide," Season pointed out.

"Yes, but I get the feeling it doesn't have anything to do with some insane plan for world domination so I figure we're alright." There was a pause in which Season could hear the sound of another voice in the background. "I've got to go," Aki said suddenly.

"Okay. And stop calling me at work." He didn't get a response because Aki had already hung up. Grumbling, Season hung up the phone himself.

"There we go," Sarah said, putting the medal in place. A moment later and the medabot moved, turning to look over at Sarah. Everything seemed to be working fine but she still was worried that something had gone wrong.

"How is it? Everything working properly? How many fingers am I holding up?" Sarah asked anxiously, holding up two fingers.

"Everything is fine," Rokusho replied patiently. Sarah continued to look at him worriedly. "Two fingers," he added.

Sighing in relief, Sarah sat down. "Oh good, I thought something might have gone wrong."

"I couldn't tell," Rokusho said dryly, causing Sarah to glance at him.

"Oh, be quiet you." Smiling, she stood back up. "So, what do you think?"

Rokusho flexed his arms, then answered. "I think I'm very gratefully I ended up outside your door. I feel wonderful."

"Good. I suppose you want to leave, so I'll show you the way to the road. Don't want all my hard work going to waste because you ended up at my house" Sarah was already out the door when she realized Rokusho wasn't behind her. Turning around, she saw he was standing in the same place. "What's the matter?"

"I just don't know how to thank you," Rokusho replied in concern.

"Is that all?" Sarah waved his concern away. "Don't worry about it. Think of it as my way of thanking you for your help. Now, come on."

This time Rokusho followed Sarah, waiting as she pulled her bike out of a bush. Grumbling about faulty kickstands, she finally started to lead the way to the road.

It was a pleasant afternoon, the sun shining through the tree leaves, the noises of animals moving around in the trees and underbrush filling the air. Right near the edge of hearing was the faint sound of running water, something Sarah hadn't noticed before. On the whole, it was rather peacefully and Sarah soon stopped grumbling, enjoying her surroundings.

"There are a lot of oak trees around here," Rokusho commented when they were about half of the way to the road. Sarah looked up and nodded.

"Sure are. I rather like oaks myself." They continued on in relative silence after that, one of them occasionally making a comment about their surroundings. When they reached the road, Sarah took a quick look both ways, then pointed to her left.

"That's the way back to town. The other way leads to the house, so I don't recommend you head that way."

"Thank you again for all of your help," Rokusho said simply.

"No big deal." Shrugging, Sarah pulled her bike onto the road, snapping her helmet into place. "Well, it was nice having you around Rokusho. Watch out for those medafighters. They may come after you again."

"You be careful too," Rokusho replied. "Good bye Sarah, thank you for your help."

"See ya Rokusho." Waving good bye, Sarah watched as the medabot did the same disappearing act he had used when they first met. Shaking her head at his abrupt disappearance, Sarah got on her bike and started peddling for the house.

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AN: I just want to apologize for this really short chapter. I would have combined it with the next one but I don't think they'll go together well. Anyway, thank you everyone for reading this far, I really appreciate it. I hope you enjoy the story so far.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

Two weeks had gone by since Rokusho had left. Sarah hadn't seen him but Erika had stopped giving her death glares, so she guessed he had assured everyone he was fine. It was a bit lonely when Sarah went to the shed at night but she told herself that she was just being silly. However, she found herself hoping that when she did get a medabot it ended up being like Rokusho.

Most of her school day ended up taking on a pleasant monotony, the most interesting things all seeming to happen in her medabot mechanics class. She was making some friends with the people from that same class, spending more of her lunches talking with them then on the computer.

Her grandmother was even being pleasant, although she had found a dojo for Sarah to go to twice a week. It was less then she had had to go before, so Sarah thought life was actually going rather well for her.

The Saturday of the second week rolled around and Sarah found herself on another walk with Rembrandt. They had stopped near the river, a bridge a short distance away. The two of them were having a grand time playing fetch with a stick Sarah had found near the river bank.

"No, don't," Sarah said, holding up her hands. Ignoring her command, Rembrandt shook himself vigorously, getting much of the extra water off of his coat and onto Sarah. Pleased, he wagged his tail and dropped the stick at Sarah feet.

"Silly dog," Sarah lightly reprimanded, patting his wet head. Picking up the stick, she threw it towards the bridge, making sure to throw it so it landed nowhere near the river. Barking happily, Rembrandt took off after the stick, trying to catch it before it hit the ground.

Laughing, Sarah dried took off her glasses, wiping off the water on her shirt. It was her pants that most of the water had ended up on but they would dry before the two of them got back to the house. Pulling her cell phone and a grocery list out of her pocket, Sarah checked the time. It was only a little past noon and she didn't have to be back at the house until three. Enough time to have some fun and still do the small amount of shopping her grandmother wanted done. Shoving the items back into her pocket, she saw her dog catch the stick just before it hit the ground.

Rembrandt came back with the stick, tail wagging. He made Sarah chance him around before he gave it back to her to throw again. She tossed it again, a slight breeze blowing it near the river.

"Don't even think about jumping in," Sarah ordered the exited dog. Rembrandt loved swimming and she wouldn't put it past him to jump into the water again, even if the stick wasn't exactly in the water.

"I'm sure you little doggy understood every word of that," came a voice from behind Sarah. The comment was followed by nasty chuckles.

Whipping around, Sarah was greeted by the sight of a large group of rather mean looking teenagers around her age. Standing in front of the group was a tall boy with black hair and a malicious grin on his face.

"What a pleasant surprise seeing you here," the tall boy said. It was the leader guy from before, although the group he was leading this time was far larger. "I don't think you met all of my friends last time," he said, waving his arm to indicate the people behind him. Sarah guessed there were about twenty of them and, from the way they were acting, she also guessed her chances of getting away unhurt were extremely thin.

"Nice to meet you," Sarah said, waving at the group. "Sorry to be so rude, but I have to be going," she continued, pointing up the slight incline to the road. She tried walking off to her bike but the leader grabbed her shoulder.

"Oh, but we just got here," he said, turning Sarah around to face the group again. "And the last time we met, I don't think we introduced ourselves properly. I'm Jon."

"That's wonderful. I know some very nice people named Jon. Now, if you would be so kind, I must be leaving." Sarah shook his hand off of her shoulder and tried to get away again. This time the leader just got in front of her, blocking her path.

"I'm sure whatever you're rushing to get to can wait. Now, won't you tell me your name?" He grinned when she took a step away from him.

"I think I'll go with choice B. B being to not tell you my name and leave. How's that sound?" Sarah glanced over at the road, wondering why no one was passing by. Surly some random pedestrian should have walked past by now, noticed her trouble and at least have run off for help.

"Here I am being nothing but the picture of politeness and you want to leave without even proper introductions. You wound me Sarah," Jon said, holding his hand to his heart and putting particular emphasis on her name. Sarah didn't even ask how he knew her name, suspecting he, or one of his lackeys, had been spying on her, and found her name out while waiting for an opportunity like this one.

He smirked when she didn't say anything. "I guess it's a bit harder to surprise you then it was your little medabot friend," he said, a slight snarl in his voice. Sarah knew he was talking about Rokusho and worried he meant they had caught him after she had helped him out. Her worry must have shown on her face because Jon laughed. "Yeah, we caught him almost three weeks back. Beat him to a pulp and took his medal."

Three weeks ago meant he was talking about the one time Sarah knew they had gone after Rokusho. That meant he was lying about what had happened, hoping to worry her even more. She was swept by a wave of relief, which unfortunately showed on her face just as her fear had.

"I don't see what you have to be relived about," Jon said, loosing all pretenses of friendliness. "Your little protector's gone and guess what? I'm here to thank you for that punch you gave me last time."

"How about you just send me a thank you card in the mail then?" Sarah shot back, figuring if she wasn't going to get out of there without a fight, so she might as well make things a bit more worth it.

Chuckling again, Jon signaled to someone behind her. Before she could turn around, two of Jon's flunkies were standing next to her. They both gabbed one of her arms, holding them tightly so she couldn't get away.

Before anything else could happen, a low growling came from behind Sarah. Craning her neck, she saw Rembrandt, hackles raised higher then she had ever seen them, teeth bared. He leapt at one of the people holding Sarah, forcing him to let her go so he could jump out of the way. Rembrandt was about to take another shot at the guy when someone grabbed his collar. The dog struggled, snapping at the person stopping him from helping Sarah.

"Someone get something and tie that mutt to the tree," Jon ordered, pointing to a tree behind Sarah. Sarah tried to stop them, but her arms were grabbed again. Soon, she heard a loud, angry barking coming form behind her.

"Now that's over," Jon said, holding up a fist, ready to strike.

"Wait," Sarah said desperately, "I think there's been a misunderstanding. I'm really sorry about punching you last time, okay?"

"Oh, you'll be sorry alright," Jon replied.

"Come one, you really shouldn't be doing this," Sarah continued, trying unsuccessfully to get out of her captors grasp.

"Oh, and why is that?" Jon asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, you're not supposed to hit girls right? And you're not supposed to hit people with glasses either. I'm a girl with glasses, so it would be, like, doubly ungentlemanly of you to hit me."

"Nice argument," her tormenter replied, "but I'm still not convinced." He was just about to punch her when Sarah kicked out, her foot making contact with his shin. As he backed off, rubbing his shin, his conies loosed their grasps on Sarah's arms.

Jerking forward, her arms came free, giving her the chance to elbow the two. Before anyone could come after her, Sarah was rushing to the tree where Rembrandt was tied up. One end of a thick rope, from who knew where, was tied around a sturdy branch, the other end to Rembrandt's collar. Luckily, whoever had tied him up had very little knot tying skill, a fact that allowed Sarah to quickly release her dog.

"Someone grab her," Jon shouted. Before Sarah could run very far, she was surrounded. People tried to grab her, but she fought back, punching and kicking for all she was worth. Rembrandt was nipping and growling at people who got to close, something that made the fight a bit easier for Sarah.

Numbers won out in the end though. Some one got a hold of Rembrandt again and three people snuck up behind and tackled Sarah to the ground. She struggled, but too little avail. Finally she just stopped, giving up. She had gotten hit a lot and knew she would have some nice burses when this was all over. She suspected she had a fat lip and the side of her nose throbbed where the nose piece of her glasses had been jammed in. She found it a bit shocking that her glasses hadn't been totally ruined actually.

"You just don't learn do you," Jon said as he came over, looking down at her. "I was going to go easy on you, but now…I think not." Sarah watched as he brought his foot back. Closing her eyes, she cringed away. The expected blow didn't land however. Instead, Sarah heard a thump and a low moan.

Opening her eyes, Sarah saw Jon lying on the ground, holding the back of his head. The people who had been holding Sarah down hurried over to help there leader up. Turning onto her back, she looked up to see a pair of red optics staring back at her.

"Need a hand?" Rokusho asked, holing out said hand. Sarah grabbed it and he pulled her into a sitting position. From there, she got shakily to her feet, turning to face the gang of teens. Pain shout through her ankle, causing a little hiss to escape through her teeth. Quickly, she shifted all of her weight to her other leg.

"Thanks Rokusho," she said once the pain lessened. Before she could even think about what to do next, Jon was back on his feet, pointing an accusatory finger at the white medabot.

"You!" he shouted. "I thought we got rid of you."

"It takes a bit more then a bunch of cowards out numbering me in a fight to take me down," Rokusho replied calmly. Jon wasn't paying attention to him anymore though. Instead he was shouting at one of the people standing next to him.

"I thought you said she didn't have a medabot."

"She doesn't Jon," the guy he was yelling at assured him.

"Then what is that," he pointed at Rokusho again, "doing here? She's had her ass saved twice by that white nuisance. That's too much of a coincidence if it wasn't her medabot."

"But Jon, she doesn't have a medawatch. And she never robattles. I thought that meant she didn't have a medabot."

"You thought did you? Well, there's the problem right there," he growled.

While those two were arguing, a parrot flew over and landed on Rokusho's shoulder. "I went and got some help Rokusho," Baton said, "It might take them a bit to get here."

"Thank you Baton," Rokusho said. "Sarah, can you get out of here?" he asked, turning to her with a concerned glance.

"I doubt it," she answered. "I hurt my ankle pretty bad somehow. I've sprained my ankle a lot in the past, so I'm pretty confident when I say that's all I did to it, thank God." She accidentally put her weight back on the injured ankle and another hiss of pain escaped her lips. "Still," she added while her ankle throbbed, "I don't see myself makin' it out of here before someone catches me."

"I could enjoy beating her medabot and then her," Jon said, catching Sarah and Rokusho's attention. Turning his attention to Sarah, he continued "I challenge you and your little medabot to a robattle. You verses us"

"Rokusho isn't-" Sarah began. She was interrupted a man in a referee outfit running down the hill. He came to stop between Sarah and the gang of medafighters, panting for breath.

"Please tell me he's not your back up," Sarah said to Baton. The parrot just shook his head. "Then who is he?"

Her question was soon answered when the man began what was obviously a prepared speech. "I officially declare this a submission robattle. As such I, Mr. Referee, will act as referee."

"Whoa there," Sarah said, holding her hands up in protest. "I think you've got things wrong. Look, Rokusho isn't-"

"It's fine Sarah," Rokusho interrupted. "Perhaps defeat will teach these people the error of there ways." Flying off of Rokusho's shoulder, Baton landed in the nearby tree, keeping a close eye on the road.

"Okay, but they all think I'm your medafighter Rokusho," Sarah protested.

"Hold this please," Rokusho said, handing Sarah his cloak. She grabbed it while he continued. "Don't worry. I am quite capable of robattling without a medafighter."

"But are you capable of robattling that? In general?" Sarah asked pointing to the group in front of them. Jon and his followers had all transported there medabots and they were all ready for battle. Rokusho didn't respond, instead he just stepped forward, ready to fight.

"Medafighters ready?" shouted Mr. Referee, holding his arm in the air.

"Are you seriously going to let them outnumber-"

"Medabots robattle!" shouted the referee over Sarah's protest, bringing his arm down in a swift chopping motion.

Instead of having all of there medabots charging at Rokusho at once, as Sarah thought they would, only three medabots were sent out. Two Blackram and a Belzelga surrounded Rokusho in a triangular formation, awaiting orders.

Worriedly Sarah squeezed Rokusho's cloak, watching the battle unfolded. The medabots charged Rokusho, who easily dodged and then went in for the attack himself. He took down one of the Blackram right away but took a glancing blow from the other one. Before he could fully recover, the Belzelga was after him. Rokusho barely dodged the punch, retaliating with his own hammer fist. Soon, Rokusho had taken down the Belzelga as well, the second Blackram getting a function ceased soon after that.

This time a much larger group of medabots came after Rokusho, not giving him any chance to recover from the attack of the last three. Rokusho attacked first however, going after the Saldron. Watching him attack, Sarah wasn't sure if he was just using good strategy by taking down one of the few medabots in the group that could attack from a distance or if he had some kind of personal vendetta against the medabot.

Another Belzelga was going after Rokusho, aiming a punch right for his head. Rokusho saw the attack coming and planned to dodge it at the last moment. What he didn't see coming was the attack from behind from another Belzelga.

Sarah did see the attack and did the one thing she could think of. "Duck Rokusho. Duck right now," she shouted. Without thinking, Rokusho dropped down, the two attacks going harmlessly over his head. The attack was far less harmless for the two Belzelga, who ended up hitting each other.

"Uppercut. Come on, uppercut," Sarah yelled, demonstrating with her left hand. Rokusho took her suggestion, knocking one of the Belzelga out. Before its medal even hit the ground, the second Belzelga had been taken out with a few quick strokes from Rokusho's sword.

"Well, well, well. Looks like the medafighter finally decided to help her little medabot out," came Jon's voice from behind Sarah. Before she could turn around, he had pulled her hands behind her back and covered her mouth. "Let us just see how well he does without you shouting orders, eh?"

"Le' mm g'," Sarah shouted through his hand, struggling. She couldn't believe she had been so stupid, letting him sneak up on her like that.

Rokusho turned away from the battle when he heard Sarah's muffled shouting. Behind him, Sarah could see another medabot coming in for the attack.

"Be'ind oo," she shouted, trying to get him to move. The other medabot was aiming a powerful looking punch right for the white medabot's head.

"Looks like your little medabot can't hear you," Jon taunted. A wave of anger overwhelmed Sarah at his comment. Suddenly, she opened her mouth and bit down on his palm.

"Why you little-" he said, releasing her as he stumbled back.

"Behind you Rokusho!" Sarah shouted, ignoring Jon. It would be to late though, she just knew it. Rokusho was turning around, but even he could only move so fast. The other medabot was going to hit him, then it would all be over.

Four shots, two in the arm, two in the head. The other medabot went down and Sarah heard a medawatch saying "Function ceased," so she knew it was Jon's medabot.

"Yo, Rokusho," came a shout from behind Sarah. "Need some help?" Turning, Sarah saw Metabee and Ikki standing up by the road. Before Rokusho could answer, Metabee was already rushing into the fight, Ikki running down to stand next to Sarah.

"Ref, you can't just let them help out like that," Jon complained.

"For your penalty of interfering with a medafighter during the robattle, I allow Rokusho assistance," Mr. Referee answered.

Ignoring Jon's protests, Sarah turned to Ikki. "Thanks a ton. I thought Rokusho was done for."

"No problem," Ikki replied, keeping his eyes on the battle. "Metabee." He said into his watch, "Watch Rokusho's back."

"Got it," Metabee said, taking a shot at another medabot. The shot missed when the other medabot, obviously made for speed, dodged.

"Have him aim for the torso," Sarah suggested when she noticed Metabee's miss. "A shot at the legs and arms are a bit harder to make on medabots like that. Easier to move one limb out of the way then the entire midsection."

Ikki looked over at her in surprise, then nodded. "Right. Metabee, aim for the torso," he ordered.

Metabee took aim and fired, scoring a direct hit. "It's time to kiss your bot good bye," he shouted, firing another round of shots off on the other medabot. Metabee seemed to have everything under control, so Sarah brought her attention back to Rokusho.

The white medabot had things under control himself, although it looked like he was the main target of the enemies' attack. "God, there's just too many of 'em," Sarah muttered.

"Not for long," Ikki responded, grinning. He pointed over at Metabee when Sarah only gave him a blank stare. Looking, she saw that the yellow medabot seemed to be glowing.

As the light increased, Sarah heard Metabee talking. "Dude, I rock." There was a brief pause and, "Medaforce!" There was a huge flash of light from something that looked like a huge energy beam. By the time Sarah could see without little flashes of light obscuring her vision, most of the other medabots had stopped functioning.

"And for those Metabee missed…" Ikki pointed again, drawing Sarah's attention to Rokusho. He had started glowing to, although his medaforce or whatever it was called seemed to be more blue than Metabee's.

"Medaforce!" This time Sarah shut her eyes before the flash of power blinded her. Opening her eyes, Sarah was greeted with the pleasant sight of only two standing medabots, Rokusho and Metabee.

"And the winner is Rokusho and Metabee," shouted the referee. Jon and his gang quickly collected their medabots and medals, getting away as quickly as they could. With a whoop, Ikki rushed over to his medabot, the two of them giving each other high fives.

Rokusho came over to Sarah, who knelt down and gave the medabot a hug. "Thanks Rokusho, that was awesome."

"It is my duty to help those in need," the medabot replied simply, although he seemed extremely pleased with himself. Smiling at his answer, Sarah handed him back his cloak. Putting weight on her injured ankle as she got back up, Sarah winced.

Almost instantly, Ikki was at her side. "Are you okay? Can I help at all?"

"I'm fine thanks," she replied, waving him off. "I've just got to go untie Rembrandt." The dog was tugging at the rope that held him, whining. Limping badly, Sarah started out for the tree.

"I'll go get him," Ikki said as he rushed past her. "Just sit down and take the weight off of your foot." Taking his advice without protest, Sarah sank down to the ground with a sigh of relief.

Rokusho came over and sat down next to her, Baton fluttering down onto his shoulder. Neither the medabot nor the blond said anything, both finally becoming exhausted from their fights.

"Looks like I'm off my adrenalin high," Sarah commented after watching Ikki try to untie Rembrandt for a bit. Whoever had tied the knot the last time had far more skill then the last person.

"And I appear to have used up a considerable amount of energy with that medaforce," Rokusho commented.

"I'm not even going to ask what just happened. Not right now anyway." She looked up at the sky for a moment, then back at Rokusho. "You okay though? I saw you take some pretty nasty hits."

"I've been worse," he replied. "Thank you for your help by the way."

Shrugging, she looked up at the sky again, Rokusho doing the same. "No big deal."

Sarah was brought back to Earth when a furry missile tackled her and began to cover her face with dog slobber. "Rembrandt," she gasped between giggles, "get off of me. You big lump." She pushed him off but he continued to stick close to her, laying his head on her lap and looking up as if begging for something. Absentmindedly, she began scratching his favorite spot right behind the ear.

Ikki came over and looked at Sarah's ankle with concern. "Can you walk? Do you need me to call a doctor or something?"

Sarah waved her hand in a dismissive gesture. "It's just a little sprain, no big deal." Starting to stand up, she continued, "See, I can totally-" She stopped when to much weight was put on the injured ankle and she fell back to the ground "-not stand up on my own," she finished with an embarrassed smile.

"Let me help you up." Ikki held out a hand that Sarah gratefully accepted. He heaved her upward, not letting go until she regained her balance.

"I believe that is the second time today I've needed someone to help me up," Sarah commented. "Thanks for your help Ikki. You too Metabee."

"It was no problem," Ikki said modestly, rubbing the back of his neck. "Glad we could help."

"Yeah, nothing like beating up some medafighting punks to make the weekend good," Metabee added, getting a stern look from his medafighter. Sarah heard Rokusho let out a small chuckle at the yellow medabot's antics and smiled.

"Thanks again everybody for all your help. I almost got my butt handed to me today." Waving, she started to limp back up to the road and her bike.

"Wait, where are you going?" Ikki called after her. "Is it okay for you to be riding a bike just yet?"

"I've got some grocery shopping to do," Sarah called back, getting onto her bike. Rembrandt raced up the hill to stand next to her. "I'll be fine, stop worrying. See you in school on Monday." Waving some more, she left, peddling the bike unsteadily away.

"Wow, she was a mess," Metabee commented, coming to stand next to Ikki who was waving a bit forlornly at Sarah's back.

"I hope she's okay," Ikki commented worriedly, still watching her retreating figure. Giving his medafighter up for useless at the moment, Metabee turned to Rokusho.

"So, what happened? Metabee want details."

Rokusho just looked at the other medabot before standing up. "Nothing happened," Rokusho finally replied. "Nothing for you to worry about anyway."

"What? Oh come one Rokusho!" Metabee yelled. "We come and help you out and what do you do? Leave us hangin', that's what."

"I have to agree with Metabee this time," Ikki interjected, finally joining the conversation. "Sarah was in pretty bad shape and you seemed to be having a bit of a hard time when we got here."

"I had things under control," Rokusho replied. Baton was sitting silently on his shoulder, wisely staying out of the conflict.

"That's why we had to help out right?" Metabee replied. "You can admit to needing help Rokusho," he continued. "Even the best of us do it. Well, except me off course, but what can I say, I'm Metabee."

"Rokusho," Ikki tried, "what I really want to know is why Sarah was so beat up when we got here."

"And why she just didn't bring her own medabot to help out," Metabee added.

"That too," Ikki agreed.

"I can not tell you that. And as to why she was in such a state when you arrived, I will only tell you she angered some people. You might want to ask your friend Spyke for more of the story." With that Rokusho left, leaving a very confused Ikki and an angry Metabee behind him.

"…So I need to talk to Spyke," Ikki concluded, looking at Erika. He, Erika, and Metabee were at the convenience store and Ikki had been explaining previous events to Henry and Erika. Henry was the first to comment after Ikki finished.

"So that's what happened," he mused out loud, looking at the ceiling. When the two teens gave him questioning looks, he elaborated. "Sarah came in here earlier, looking like she just been in a big fight, which I suspect she was. She was limping a lot so I asked her if I could help with anything while she sat down." Henry stopped, looking into space.

"And?" the other three prompted in unison.

"She gladly took me up on the offer and asked if I had a bunch of stuff on this grocery list she showed me. I did, so I went and grabbed it all so she could sit. Then I rung it up, she paid, then left."

"That's it?" Metabee asked incredulously.

"I did offer to let her use the store phone to call her parents so they could come pick her up." He looked a bit embarrass but continued. "She told me she lived with her grandmother because of a family issue. I felt like a total jerk for bringing up family problems and apologized. She just smiled and told me it was no big deal."

"Why do I get the feeling there's more?" Erika said, her arms folded.

"Because there is. So I told her the offer still stood to use the phone so she could call her grandmother. She just went a bit pale and told me she couldn't be such a bother after all of my help. Then she grabbed the bag of groceries and took off. I saw her dog following her."

"I still don't trust the girl," Erika commented, looking out the shop window. "Be that as it may," she added, "I think some questions are about to be answered." She pointed and everyone followed her finger. Outside the window they could see the Screws Gang passing the store front.

Hurrying outside, Ikki and Metabee grabbed Spyke. Before he or his friends could protest the two of them had dragged him inside and sat him in a chair.

"Okay Spyke, start talking," Erika ordered. Samantha and Sloan came rushing in at that moment, Samantha looking ready to kill someone.

"Just what do you think you're doing Erika?" Samantha demanded, pointing an accusatory finger at the reporter.

"Trying to get some answers out of your lackey," Erika responded before turning back to Spyke. "Now talk."

"I don't know what you want me to tell you about," Spyke answered, cringing.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry about that." It was at that point that Samantha came over to the group and started to yell at Erika, who naturally started yelling back.

"Look Spyke," Ikki said calmly as the two girls fought, Sloan trying to calm them down. "Sarah was beat up today and we were told you might know why. Any ideas?"

"First off, I didn't do it," Spyke began.

He stopped when Metabee let out a little chuckle. "Trust me," he said, "you were the last person we thought might have beaten her up." Ikki shushed his medabot and indicated for Spyke to continue.

"All I can think of is maybe those guys I told you about before." When all he got was confused looks, he elaborated. "Remember when Erika brought us all here and I told you about those medafighters who tried to take Crosserdog's medal?" The two nodded, recollection dawning. "Well, while I was heading back to help, I heard someone shout they'd get her. So maybe it was those guys."

"But there were only three right?" Ikki asked, getting a nod for confirmation. "There were a whole lot more this afternoon," he mumbled.

At that moment Samantha came over and grabbed Spyke, dragging him with her out the door, Sloan following. Erika came over, an angry look on her face. "Well, anything?" she snapped.

"Remember those guys Spyke said attacked him a few weeks back? The ones Sarah saved him from?" Erika nodded. "Well, it turns out they said they'd get her back so my guess is they decided to do that today."

"I guess it makes sense," Erika acknowledged.

"What doesn't make sense however is why they were after medals when they attacked Spyke before," Henry pointed out.

"Sarah and Rokusho might know more about this then they're telling us," Ikki mused.

"Then we'll just have to get one of them to talk," Metabee said. "Sarah would probably be easier to get talking."

Erika closed her mouth when Ikki shot her a look and agreed with his medabot. "You're right Metabee. Which is why the two of us will try to get her to talk. Not you, got that Erika." Erika just grumbled to herself, but didn't make her protests to verbal so Ikki took that to be a yes.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13 **

Sarah reached her hand out and shut off the alarm clock, turning over with a slight groan. It was Monday and she still felt a bit soar from the beating she had received, her ankle barley any better from Saturday. At least she hadn't gotten into any trouble with her grandmother.

As she got dressed for school, Sarah mused that either she was becoming a rather good liar or her grandmother was getting a bit gullible in her old age. Her grandmother had actually believed her when she told her she had fallen off of her bike and had gotten hurt because she was going to fast. The old woman had seemed a bit suspicious so Sarah had decided to spend Sunday around the house and hadn't gone to the shed the entire weekend.

And now she had to go to school. Sighing, she put on an ankle brace and then left her room. Still limping, she got ready for school, fed the dog and herself, and quickly left the house.

By the time she reached the school, her ankle felt a bit better, although she was still limping slightly. Wondering how she should explain both the ankle and the bruise on her nose to her friends, Sarah locked her bike up. Maybe she should tell them the same thing she had her grandmother? It didn't seem right to lie to her new friends though but telling them she had gotten beaten up seemed a bit lame.

Lost in these thoughts, Sarah turned around and almost tripped over the yellow medabot standing in front of her, loosing her balance as she avoided a collision. Before she could fall over Ikki grabbed her arm and held on until she regained her balance.

"Sorry about that," Ikki said. "We were trying to get your attention but you didn't respond."

"Well you have it now," Sarah replied a bit grumpily. When she saw Ikki's apologetic look she added hastily, "Just ignore me. I'm the kind of person who thinks it should be illegal to get up before eight."

"I'll keep the warning in mind," Ikki replied with a grin.

"So, what did you guys want?" Sarah asked, shifting her weight off her injured foot a bit.

"We have some questions for you," Metabee said. "And we intended to get the answers."

Ikki gave his medabot a long suffering look before turning to Sarah. "Please excuse Metabee, he can be really rude sometimes."

"Hey," protested the medabot.

"No problem," Sarah assured the both of them. "Actually Metabee, I should apologize to you. This has to be the second time I almost ran into you."

"At least you weren't on a bike this time," Metabee said in way of acceptance.

Standing around had started to make her ankle hurt again. "Guys, would you mind asking your questions in the class or somewhere? I kind of want to sit down," Sarah said, embarrassed to ask. Ikki noticed her try and take more weight off of the ankle and hastily agreed they should head inside.

Soon they were all sitting in the classroom, Sarah with her legs stretched out in front of her. The room was empty so Ikki figured it would be okay if they started talking.

"So, Sarah, we have some questions that we were wondering if you could answer," he began awkwardly, wondering how to best phrase things.

"Shoot."

"Why didn't you call in your own medabot to help Rokusho out this weekend?" Metabee asked before Ikki could think of a politer way to say things.

Sarah looked at the two of them with wide eyes, a bit shocked at the question. She wasn't sure what she had expected them to ask, but that most definitely was not it. Nervously she looked around the room, wondering what to say. Metabee tapped his fingers impatiently on a desk while Sarah came up with an excuse.

"Uhh…My medabot was being repaired?" she hazarded. Mentally she kicked herself both for the lameness of the excuse and for how utterly unconvincing she had made it sound.

More proof of how epically she had failed at avoiding the truth came with Metabee's next comment. "Well, I'm utterly unconvinced. How about the truth now?"

"Sarah, it's not like we're going to get mad at you or something. We're just wondering," Ikki told her, throwing his medabot a quick glare. They had obviously come upon a touchy subject and Metabee was not handling things well at all. Sarah still hesitated so Ikki continued. "Sarah, I think we're friends, so as a friend I'd like to know, incase that had to do with why you were so beat up on Saturday. We won't tell anyone, we swear."

Sarah looked Ikki in the eyes for a second and then looked at the floor. After a minuet or two she mumbled something before turning a bit red.

"I didn't hear any of that," Ikki said, wondering what the big issue was.

"I don't have a medabot, okay?" Sarah said a bit louder, still looking at the floor. When Metabee chuckled, her head snapped up and she looked at him angrily, Ikki giving the medabot a similar look.

"Oh come on," Metabee said. "That was worse then your last excuse. We all know you can repair medabots and you're really good from what I've heard. You can't not have a medabot if that's true."

"Metabee I think she's telling the truth," Ikki said in the girl's defense. "Think about it, have you ever seen her with a medawatch? Seen her robattle?"

"Yeah, but anyone can carry a medawatch in a pocket or something," Metabee countered. "And besides, I was at that robattle Saturday same as you and I noticed she seems to know what she's doing. Besides, as I pointed out before, she can fix medaparts. You sort of need a medabot to learn how to do that."

"I still don't think you're right. If you ask me the facts point to her not having a medabot when you think about it," Ikki replied a bit heatedly.

"Hello," Sarah said, waving her hand between the two. "I'm still here. You can stop talking about me like I'm not." Both looked at her a bit sheepishly as she continued. "I'm telling the truth, whether you believe it or not I don't really care. But let me tell you, you tell anyone else about this and I promise to find some way of making you lives miserable."

"We promise not to tell anyone," Ikki assured her, Metabee nodding in agreement.

"That includes your nosey friend Erika," Sarah pointed out.

"Won't even tell Erika," Ikki said. Sarah looked relived so he figured he might as well try his luck with a few more questions. "If you don't mind me asking, why don't you have a medabot?"

"I do mind you asking," Sarah replied. That response made Ikki think he might not get an answer but she continued. "I might as well tell you. Not like _no_ one else in town doesn't know. To tell the truth, my grandmother won't let me get a medabot. She hates them and says they bring nothing but destruction."

"What?" Metabee said, outraged. "She's not one of those psychos that tries to get medabots banned from schools is she?"

"No," Sarah said with a small shake of her head. Metabee calmed down a bit until she added, "She's more like one of those psychos that try to get medabots banned in general. Like, no medabots for anyone, anywhere."

"So you're telling me that your grandmother is a medabot hating psycho," Metabee began, Sarah nodding in agreement to his statement, "And you, her granddaughter that she raised in that medabot hating atmosphere, are skilled at repairing medabots and like them. Yeah, way convincing."

Sarah threw her hands up in a gesture of surrender. "I'm aware that the situation will probably only start making sense when two plus two equals coconut, or something equally insane, but it's the truth."

"Metabee's just being difficult, ignore him," Ikki interrupted. "Lets get to the bigger problem. Why were you attacked on Saturday?"

Glad to be on a topic she was more comfortable discussing, Sarah answered without hesitation. "It was because of what happened after my first day at school here. I was taking a shortcut home when I heard this noise from an alley. I stopped and took a look to see what was up. Three goons were surrounding this black haired kid and his medabot," she began.

"Spyke," Ikki informed her.

She shrugged. "If you say so. Well, being the unthinking idiot I sometimes am, I ran in there and tried to get them to leave the kid alone. His medabot had ceased functioning and the other three were trying to get this Spyke kid to give them the medabot's medal. When I got their attention, the guy I had come to help split and the three got really mad at me. The leader, Jon I found he's called, grabbed me and I punched him in the stomach and ran for it." A few people trickled into the room and Sarah stopped, looking up at them.

"And," prompted Metabee.

"Well," Sarah continued in a lower voice, glancing at the other students, "They sent there medabots after me. They were just about to get me when Rokusho showed up out of nowhere and took them all out. They ended up running away, promising to get back at the two of us."

"Well, that explains a bit," Ikki said slowly once Sarah had finished. "You wouldn't have any idea why they wanted Spyke's medal do you?"

"Not the foggiest." With a touch of sarcasm, Sarah added, "Maybe they plan to use them to take over the world or something." Ikki and Metabee looked at her seriously, as if they actually thought that was a possibility. "I was just joking you guys."

"Uhh…Yeah, of course." After a brief pause, Ikki asked another question. "Sarah, I know this is a bit personal, but your parents are dead right?"

"I see Erika told you," Sarah said in way of an answer, her guard suddenly back up.

"She did. But I was wondering just now, did their death have something to do with medabots? Is that why your grandmother hates them so much?"

Hastily, Sarah glanced at her wrist. "Oh wow, look at the time," she said, standing up. "I have to go…" she pause, trying to think of somewhere, "…somewhere not here. Okay, nice talking. Bye guys." With that she quickly left the room, a few curious people watching her leave.

"Wait, she doesn't have a-"

"I know Metabee."

"But she just-"

"I know Metabee"

"We totally just screwed things up, didn't we?"

"I think we did Metabee," Ikki replied with a sigh.

Ikki watched Sarah talking with a group of her friends as she left the school. She was smiling as she talked and the people around her burst out laughing. Ikki considered going over to the group but remembered how Sarah had been avoiding him since their conversation earlier. Closing his locker, he started to leave himself, thinking about the problematic conversation from earlier. When they had talked about why she did not have a medabot she had implied that someone else knew. Maybe they would know why her grandmother hated medabots. Ikki knew the answer to that question probably wasn't important but he really wanted to know. Maybe she had been talking about Rokusho? If that was the case he probably wouldn't find anything out.

"Hey Ikki, wait up." Erika's voice stopped Ikki in mid step. He had been avoiding her since the conversation that morning, knowing she would question him about everything that was said. And after that promise he had made Sarah…But Erika would never leave him alone if he didn't tell her something.

Erika caught up with him as he dithered, wondering what to do. "Ikki, where have you been all day?" Not waiting for an answer, Erika continued, "So, did you get to talk to her?"

"Yes," Ikki answered, wishing he had some excuse to leave.

"Well, what did you find out?"

"Same thing Spyke told us. She got some people mad and they decided to get back at her. I asked if she knew why they were after Spyke's medal but she had no idea." Erika opened her mouth but Ikki just spoke before she could say anything, "And yes I believe her Erika, so don't start anything."

"Well fine," Erika said a bit huffily. "By the way, I was thinking about what you told me about when you and Metabee showed up and I was wonder, where was her medabot? Did you ask her anything about that?" Ikki just gave her a surprised look that Erika took to mean he hadn't even thought of it. "Oh come on Ikki. This is why you should have had me there."

Ikki just kept his mouth shut. If Erika wanted to think he hadn't asked about Sarah not bringing her own medabot to help then he wasn't going to correct her.

"Well, come on," Erika ordered, grabbing Ikki's arm and dragging him after her. "Let's go and tell Henry what you found out. Maybe he'll be able to think of something."

Sarah rolled over and squinted at the bright red blob in the darkness. Squinting more, she leaned forward until her face was right up to the clock, the digital numbers finally clear. It was twelve forty-five, a time that made her yawn just thinking about it.

Reaching out to her nightstand, Sarah grabbed her glasses and sat up. Carefully, she extracted her feet from under Rembrandt, who had gotten up on the bed while she slept. She got dressed then pushed the dog off of the bed so she could set it up to look like she was still in it. Going over to her grandmother's room, Sarah checked to make sure the old woman was asleep. Once she was sure that she was, Sarah crept back into her own room and grabbed her laptop bag and flashlight.

Soon she was heading through the woods with Rembrandt close behind. The light was very dim, a reminder to Sarah that she still hadn't changed the flashlight batteries. She really needed to remember to do that so the thing didn't go out on her when she needed it. As she walked, Sarah's thoughts wandered, most of them pleasant.

She would have to start wearing a jacket and not just a hoodie, she mused as a chilly breeze blew through the trees. As she shivered she wondered why she had even decided to come out to the shed. It wasn't like she had anything to do tonight. No medaparts to fix, no notes to make, no mysterious beat up medabots that had appeared at her door randomly to repair. Well, she could play solitaire or something since there was a pack of cards in her laptop bag.

Maybe she was coming because she had had that nightmare again. Sarah shivered again, thinking about the nightmare that had haunted her as long as she could remember. And on top of the normal fear it brought with her, now her grandmother was in it. Well, it didn't take a genius to figure out that that part of the dream was supposed to be how she felt about the old woman half the time.

Shaking her head in an attempt to clear it, Sarah looked up to see the shed in the dim light from her flashlight. Stopping in front of the door, she dug her hand into her jeans pocket, searching for the key. It was then the flashlight flickered and went out.

Cursing, Sarah looked around the darkness, waiting for her eyes to readjust. It was a moonless night and Sarah wondered if she would be able to find the keyhole and get inside the shed.

"Need some assistance?" came a voice directly behind her. Swearing for a second time that night, Sarah whipped around, heart pounding uncomfortably in her chest, dead flashlight held like a club. In front of her was a patch of deeper darkness and two red lights, staring back.

"God Rokusho, are you trying to give me a heart attack?" Sarah took a few deep breaths, holding her hand to her chest, and tried to calm down.

"I apologize. I wasn't expecting quite that reaction," Rokusho replied. "Let me help." Sarah saw the lights move and felt metal touch the hand she was holding the key in. Gently, Rokusho took the key and Sarah moved out of the way. The medabot unlocked the door and turned on the light. Relived, Sarah went in the building, Rembrandt following behind. Before the door was even closed, the dog was asleep on the rug.

"Load of help you were," Sarah commented to the sleeping pile of fur. Her only reply was a sleepy snort as Rembrandt turned over. Rolling her eyes, she turned to Rokusho. "No Baton I see," she commented while holding out her hand.

Rokusho put his cloak in the proffered hand as he explained. "I asked him to stay with Dr. Aki tonight. Would you mind if I brought him with me next time?"

Sarah hung the cloak on an empty tool hook on the wall as she answered, "Not at all. I appreciate you asking me first." Placing her bag on the chair, Sarah rummaged through it as she continued to talk. "Not that I mind, but what brought about the sudden visit? And was that the implication of more visits yet to come?"

"It was," Rokusho replied. "And I came tonight, and the last two nights, to make sure you were okay." Sarah turned to Rokusho, a pack of cards in her hand.

"Oh, Rokusho, thank you. I'm so sorry I didn't come for awhile. If I had known you were going to be here I wouldn't have stayed at home..."

"Asleep, in bed, where you should be normally," Rokusho pointed out. "I was just worried. I came to talk as well," he added.

Sarah had taken the cards out of the packet and began to inexpertly shuffle the deck once she had taken the jokers out. "Want to talk over a game of cards? War, since there's just two of us."

Rokusho stared at Sarah, who was still trying to shuffle the cards. "I'm serious, in case you're wondering if this is some kind of weird joke," Sarah commented when Rokusho still didn't say anything.

"Well, I suppose," Rokusho replied a bit confused. Sarah nodded and sat down in the middle of the floor. Rokusho followed her example and Sarah handed him half of the deck.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Sarah asked as they both placed down their first cards. Glancing at them, Sarah reached over and put them in a little pile next to her.

"I suspected you might have some questions about the medaforce Metabee and I used on Saturday," Rokusho replied, watching as Sarah took two more cards.

"You suspected correctly," Sarah said with a nod as Rokusho took the next set of cards.

"Do you know anything about the medaforce to begin with?" Rokusho asked as they placed down their cards with little _fuut_ sounds.

"I heard a little bit about it six years ago," Sarah replied. Rokusho nodded as if he had expected that answer. "All I really know is that it's supposed to some kind of super powerful attack. Only some medabots can use it. And while some of the medabots in the World Robattle Cup six years ago used it, there seems to be not a single clip of those robattles on the internet."

"That would be because of the Medabot Corporation," Rokusho said, not going into that particular topic. "As you saw, the medaforce is an extremely powerful attack and it is true that only a few medabots can use the attack. Almost all of these medabots have what is called a rare medal."

"'Almost all'?"

"There is one known exception, but in general one needs a rare medal to use the medaforce," Rokusho explained.

"So you have one of these rare medal things?" Sarah guessed, watching Rokusho take another of her cards.

"Correct," Rokusho replied with a nod. "Medals such as mine have extreme power and can cause much destruction if one is not careful."

"Hmm…So, do rare medals come from some, like, random anomaly or something, or do you not know?"

"I know," Rokusho replied slowly. "Rare medals don't come from an anomaly…"

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," Sarah told Rokusho while he hesitated. "War by the way." Pointing, she indicated the two sixes on the floor. Rokusho looked down at the floor, surprised.

As the two set up their cards, Rokusho finally continued. "It is not that I do not want to tell you, I'm just not sure how you will react." Rokusho seemed a bit nervous as he talked.

"Try me," Sarah said as the both finished placing their cards. Neither flipped them as Rokusho started talking.

"Rare medals are actually something from an ancient race. The medals of all other medabots are copied from these original medals. These originals come from an old civilization that warred constantly. This fact was there eventual downfall." Rokusho paused, looking at Sarah to see how she was reacting. She just stared back at him, face largely impassive, hands folded calmly in her lap.

Still worried about the way she would react to the information he was telling her, Rokusho continued, "The few survivors of this race put their personalities into what we now call rare medals. The method of reviving these medals came from my medafighter, Professor Hoshi." Once Rokusho finished his explanation he gave Sarah an expectant look.

Reaching her hand forward, Sarah flipped over her card to reveal a ten of hearts and then gave Rokusho an expectant look of her own. When the white medabot only continued to stare at her, the teenager let out a sigh. "Rokusho, if you were expecting some kind of freak out, you came to the wrong tool shed."

"I wasn't expecting you to freak out, but this certainly wasn't the reaction I was expecting," Rokusho replied. "You did hear everything I said, correct?"

"Look, Rokusho, you could tell me a far more outlandish story then you just did, and I would still react in a pretty similar manner. While I admit it would be pretty darn hard to think of something more out there then what I just heard, my point is that I will not be all, 'Are you joking? Get out of here robot dude.'" Rokusho was staring at Sarah again, causing another sigh on her part.

"Look, Rokusho, you're my friend. The fact that you're apparently even older then I pegged you as really doesn't matter to me." Rokusho sat there in a shocked silence until Sarah indicated the cards on the floor again. "Any time now."

Suddenly Rokusho started laughing, surprising the both of them. He was still laughing as he reached down to flip his card over, reveling a four of diamonds.

"Thank you," Sarah said as she swept the cards into the pile next to her leg. Rokusho wasn't saying anything else, so Sarah decided to start the conversation back up. "So," she began, drawing the word out. "Since Metabee used the medaforce, does that mean he has one of these rare medal too?"

Rokusho shook his head before answering. "Yes, it means he has a rare medal. Honestly, I can't believe how unaffected you seem by this information."

"What, it's not like you can take over the world with the power these rare medals have right?" Sarah commented as she placed another card down. When Rokusho remained silent, she looked over at him. "Am I supposed to take your silence as a yes, you actually can?"

"I believe you should," Rokusho answered. This caused Sarah to look a bit shocked, although her expression soon became contemplative.

"That would explain their reaction this morning," she mumbled to herself.

"Whose reaction? To what?" Rokusho asked curiously, finally placing down his card. He took the two and placed them in a neat stack with the others as Sarah began explaining.

"I was talking to Ikki and Metabee this morning. Well, more like I was being interrogated by them. Anyway, they asked if I knew why that gang of medafighters might be after medals. I told them I didn't know and joked that maybe they were planning to take over the world somehow. Those two freaked out for a little bit."

"Well, I can understand their reaction. They don't exactly have fond memories of the last time someone tried to use the rare medals for their own purposes," Rokusho commented. When Sarah just gave him a confused look, Rokusho briefly explained the events of six years ago.

When he finally finished, Sarah let out a low whistle. "Yeah, I think I would have freaked out a bit if I was them too."

"Did you talk about anything else with those two?" Rokusho asked as they continued their card game.

"Not really. I told them I don't have a medabot, but I don't think Metabee believes me. Things sort of got to an awkward topic and I sort of left." Rokusho noticed Sarah's cheeks slowly turn red.

"Should I not ask what this topic was?" Rokusho asked.

"You sort of just did," Sarah pointed out. She paused before blurting out, "Ikki asked about my parents."

"The parents that left you with your grandmother?" Rokusho asked. This was the first time he could remember Sarah mentioning her parents and wondered why talking about them would be awkward for the girl.

"No. More like the parents who died, leaving me with only my grandmother as a relative." She began to fidget with the messy pile of cards next to her, avoiding looking at the white medabot. "Ikki asked if their deaths had anything to do with medabots," she finally added quietly.

"Did they?"

Sarah simply nodded. Rokusho did not prompt her for any more information, knowing that when she was ready, Sarah would tell him. Eventually she did. "Have you ever heard of the Ten Days of Darkness?"

"Yes," Rokusho said. Already suspecting where the conversation would be heading, he refrained from adding how that event could partially be blamed on the rare medals.

"Well, it was supposed to be horrible. I don't know I was, like, two then." Sarah was staring off into space, as if she could see the events she clamed not to remember. Still staring into space, she continued. "All I really know is what Grandma has told me, so I don't think it's the most accurate of accounts, if we're looking at bias anyway. Apparently all the medabots just went berserk, no real warning or anything. My parents both had a medabot, who they treated just like members of the family. Well, Grandma says everyone was pretty shocked when the two started rampaging. My mom got out of the house with Grandma and me though."

Here Sarah stopped, eyes taking on a slight shine. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes for a second. When she opened them again the shine was gone and she continued with her story. "Then she went back into the house. Grandma always gets really mad when she talks about this part. She handed me over and told Grandma she and my dad would meet back up with us once they had helped out their medabots. I'm told the house was actually on fire by then, but my mom still ran back in."

"And they never met back up with you," Rokusho finished when it was obvious Sarah wasn't saying anything else. Sarah looked up at Rokusho, her eyes sad.

"Yeah, they never met back up with us," she said in a small voice. Clearing her throat, Sarah continued in a much brighter tone. "And skipping forward to present day, I totally made the lamest exit ever when Ikki tried to bring up that topic. I even looked at my wrist like I had a watch, which is ridicules since I don't have one."

"And why don't you have a watch?" Rokusho asked, recognizing Sarah's attempt to change the subject. The two resumed the card game they had forgotten about while Sarah talked.

"Because I don't plan to get a watch until I get a medabot. Then I'll have a medawatch." Sarah was now totally different from the depressed girl of a few seconds earlier. Her eyes gleamed this time with excitement, not tears, her body language spoke only of confidence, not sadness. "I just have to wait until I can get out of the house," she added, a bit less exited.

"Speaking of your house," Rokusho said, looking pointedly at the clock. The hour hand was on the three, the minute hand very obviously pointing to the five. "I believe it is time you start heading back."

"I guess you're right. Looks like we didn't get to finish our game," Sarah commented, looking t the cards on the floor.

"Perhaps tomorrow," Rokusho suggested. "Are you going to need any help getting back to your house?"

"And risk you getting near the place? I think I'll pass, thanks all the same." Sarah stood up and grabbed everything except the cards, which the two of them left on the floor. Sarah woke up Rembrandt then opened the door. Once Rokusho was out, Sarah turned off the lights and Rokusho locked the door before handing back the key. Waving good bye to the red lights floating in the darkness, Sarah and her dog headed off in the direction of her house, the girl occasionally stumbling in the dark.

-----------------------------------------

AN: Just warning everyone that next week I may be unable to update. If this does happen, I apologize in advance. Thanks to everyone for reading this far and also thank you to everyone who has reviewed up to now.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

Sarah turned around when she heard someone call her name a second time. School had just ended and she was busy unlocking her bike. She had ignored the person the first time they called since she wanted to leave quickly and head over to the scrap yard seeing as she needed some medaparts for class next week. Some time to fix them up would be necessary before then.

"Hi Sarah," Ikki said as he walked up to her, smiling. The blond looked past him and noticed Erika a few paces behind. Erika looked far less pleased to be there then Ikki.

"Hey Ikki, Erika."

"Hey where are you going?" Ikki asked a bit suddenly.

"I was heading home after I picked something up for a project," Sarah answered. "Why?" It had been a few days since Sarah and Ikki had spoken. While the two were talking on a more regular basis, Sarah still felt a tad uncomfortable talking to him.

"We were wondering if you wanted to head over to the Hop Mart with us," Ikki said happily. Erika just sighed, giving no real indication of whether or not the "we" had actually included her opinion.

"I think I'll have to pass, sorry," Sarah said. Her bike was unlocked, so she began pushing it next to her, planning to ride it once she was away from the worst of the after school crowd. To her dismay, Ikki and Erika followed.

"Come on Sarah, please," Ikki pleaded. Sarah just told him no and kept walking to the school gate. Once she got there she was in for a bit of a surprise.

Standing next the gate, waiting for his medafighter like normal, was Metabee. Not all that surprising since Sarah saw Metabee there almost everyday. Standing with Metabee were two other medabots, one of whom was Brass, another medabot Sarah saw on enough of a regular basis not to find her being there all that shocking. The real shock came from the third medabot.

"Hey Rokusho," Sarah greeted the white medabot, taking one of her hands off of the bike's handle bars to give a little wave. The white medabot returned her greeting and was about to say something else when Ikki interrupted.

"What are you doing here Rokusho?" the boy asked, looking a bit confused.

"I had to tell Sarah something," Rokusho replied simply, making no effort to elaborate despite the curious glances everyone was giving him.

"Well, Sarah was coming with us to the convince store, so why don't you come along too?" Ikki offered. Before Sarah could tell Ikki that she was most definitely not coming with him, the boy had taken the bike from her loose grasp and begun pushing it in the opposite direction she had planned on heading. "Here, let me push this for you," Ikki said, looking over his shoulder at the indignant blond.

"What the frick? Give me back my bike Ikki. I never once said I was coming with you guys," Sarah finally spluttered, walking quickly to catch up with him. "In fact, I distinctly remember telling you I was not coming."

"Give it up Farmer," Erika said with a role of her eyes as she walked past the two, her medabot close behind.

"Not like I have much choice in the matter," Sarah grumbled, finally relenting, "what with my bike being hijacked and everything." She continued to follow, but at a pace slow enough for the two medafighters and their medabots to be a bit ahead of her. Rokusho matched her pace however and when she looked over at the white medabot, Sarah knew that if he only had eyebrows, one of them would be raised questioningly in her direction.

Kicking irritably at the ground, Sarah just mumbled something about needing batteries anyway. Rokusho's only response was to give her a look that the teen was beginning to associate with him smirking. Her only response was to kick at the ground again and look around at their surroundings.

As they walked, Ikki tried to keep a conversation going, but his efforts were in vain. Erika was doing her best to not talk to Sarah and Sarah was doing the same to her and Ikki, who she obviously still was frustrated with. Brass wasn't saying much and Metabee was being Metabee. Rokusho was just walking quietly next to Sarah and actually seemed to find the girl's frustration amusing.

"I have to be back at my house by three thirty," Sarah pointed out to Ikki in what he could only assume was a last ditch effort to get away.

"Don't worry, you should be able to get back by then," Ikki replied over his shoulder. "We just want you to come and meet some of our friends," he added.

"And this is so important it can involve coercing me to come to convenience store?" Sarah said over a hurumph from Erika. Sarah was beginning to seriously question the fact that Ikki's "we" involved Erika. Ikki didn't respond so Sarah just gave a hurumph of her own and continued walking.

The rest of the trip was filled with a moody silence from the two females in the group. They reached the store without incident however, something Ikki was glad about. Before they could head inside, Henry came out of the door.

"Ikki, can you put that bike around back. I was told you guys might be here for awhile and I don't want the bike on the sidewalk and in everyone's way." Ikki nodded and took the bike around back, but not before Sarah quickly grabbed her bag and reminded Ikki she had to be back at her house by three thirty.

Sarah walked into the store with Erika and was shocked at the number of people. Talking to Henry, who was back behind the counter, was a short teen who put Sarah in mind of a hyper monkey. She could hear the word dude coming from his direction rather frequently. Another boy was standing near the first, looking around the store rather disdainfully before turning to make a comment to the red headed girl standing next to him. There was also an odd old man wearing a hat and sitting away from everyone, eating what appeared to be a pudding cup.

Everyone, including the odd old man, looked over when the little bell on the door rang, announcing the presence of Erika, Sarah, and the three medabots. Before Sarah really knew what was going on, the red head had come up to her and grasped one of Sarah's hands in both of her own.

"Oh, you must be Sarah," the girl said sweetly, smiling brightly. "Ikki's said such nice things about you and I just couldn't wait to meet you. Come on, let me introduce you to everyone." Without having a chance to say anything, Sarah found herself being pulled across the store to the two other teens.

"This is Rintaro," the girl said pleasantly, still smiling brightly at Sarah as she indicated the shorter of the two boys near the table.

"Yo," Sarah said, nodding her head in greeting since one hand was holding her bag and the other was still being grasped by the red head. The red head giggled at this and the taller boy let out a snort.

Continuing with introductions, the red head indicated the other boy. "And this is Koji."

"Yo again," Sarah said, nodding her head once more in greeting. There was a pause before she felt it was necessary to add, "And who are you?"

The red head giggled and finally let Sarah's hand go so she could give herself a light smack on the forehead. "Sorry, I completely forgot to introduce myself. I can be so silly sometimes. I'm Karen."

As she was saying this, the bell by the front door rang again and Ikki entered. He greeted everyone before turning to Karen. "Thank you for introducing Sarah to everyone. It was very kind of you. Of course, I wouldn't expect anything less from you Karen." As Karen giggled again, Koji, who was standing right next to her, glared at Ikki. The other boy returned the glare before turning to Sarah.

"So now that you met everyone, I have to admit there was another reason for asking you to come here," he said sheepishly.

"I should have suspected as much," Sarah said. She wasn't paying much attention to Ikki however, instead watching Rokusho, who was watching the strange old man with the pudding cup. What was up with that old guy? And why was she getting another of those nagging feelings she should know who he was?

"Well, there's this medapart you see…" Ikki began, trailing off and giving Koji a look. The other boy just looked blank until the strange old man gave a bit of a cough. Sarah wouldn't have been all that suspicious if Koji hadn't reacted the way he did.

"Oh, yeah, medapart," he said hurriedly. "Ahh…yes, that's right. Ikki told us about your skill fixing medaparts and I had one that needs to be repaired and I thought I might ask you to look at it…" he stopped, as if trying to remember the next part in a prepared speech. "Would you be so kind as to do so?" he finally added.

Sarah just quirked an eyebrow. Something was going on, and everyone seemed to be in on it, except for maybe Rokusho, who was just acting as confused by the way everyone was acting as Sarah was. "Aren't you Koji Karakuchi, one of the members of team Japan?" she finally said, ignoring his own question for the moment.

"Yes," Koji responded proudly, "It was with my excellent leadership and robattling abilities that we won."

"It was because of whose leadership and robattle skills that we won?" Ikki asked darkly.

"Mine," Koji replied. "And I hope you're not trying to imply it was because of you-"

"So does this mean you want me to fix one of Sumilidon's parts?" Sarah interrupted.

Koji just looked at her aghast before responding. "Of course I wouldn't ask you to fix one of Sumilidon's parts. To think I would ask an armature like you to-" Koji was interrupted again, this time by a hiss of "Shut up, Dude" from Rintaro.

"Look, if you don't want me fixing the medapart, I have no problem leaving," Sarah said, shrugging her shoulders and actually turning around to leave.

"Wait, wait, wait. Here, just look at the thing please." Hurriedly, Koji pointed his medawatch at the counter and hit the screen. There was a flash of light and then the medapart was sitting on the previously empty counter.

Sarah was next to the counter and looking at the medapart almost instantly. It was an arm part she had never seen before, although it looked like it might be some newer model of a KNL type. The more she looked at the more she was sure that, yes, it was a new KNL part, the same type as Warbandit, a past world champion medabot.

"Where'd you get this? I've never seen this part before," Sarah said, looking accusingly at Koji, as if it was somehow his fault.

"I have my connections," Koji said guardedly, his eyes shifting in the direction of the odd man for the briefest of instances. Sarah glanced over at the old man herself, but he was still eating the pudding cup and apparently ignoring the teens not far from him. She was more interested in the medapart however, so Sarah quickly forgot the old man.

"Whatever. At least tell me what's wrong with it because it looks perfectly fine."

"It won't fire properly Dude," Rintaro interjected into the conversation. Sarah glanced down in his direction, wondering how he knew that. He was one of Koji's friends though, she reminded herself.

"And by properly, he means at all," Koji said, giving the miniature monkey a glare. Sarah missed this look however because her attention was back on the medapart.

Her bag was on the ground and she had already dug out her tool box. Quickly, she got the piece open and began inspecting it. Everything seemed to be in working order, all the components brand new, no apparent sings of damage. As she tried to figure out the problem, everyone else in the store, especially the old man with the pudding cup, was watching her work.

After awhile, Sarah let out a frustrated sigh and looked out the store window, trying to figure out what was wrong with an apparently perfectly fine medapart. She was about to check the firing mechanism again when she froze. There, across the street and handing a piece of paper to the random chicken guy, was an old woman. Not just any old woman, but her grandmother. If she looked through the store front window, or worse, came into the store and found Sarah not only in the same room as three medabots but working on a medapart…

In a flash, Sarah had put her tools back into the toolbox and threw it unceremoniously back into her bag. Quickly she zipped it up, threw one strap over her shoulder, and hurried around the counter. Glancing out the window again, Sarah's worst fears were confirmed when she saw the old woman looking both ways as she crossed the street. Quickly Sarah grabbed the medapart and ducked under the counter.

Everyone stared at the empty space that had moments before held the blond. "Whatever happens: I. Am. Not. Here. And I don't know any of you," Sarah hissed from under the counter. Henry looked down at the girl, her legs folded up so she could fit into the small hiding space she had found on his side of the register.

Before anyone could do or say anything, the bell at the door rang, announcing the entrance of another person. Everyone turned to see a severe looking old woman march into the store, her nose wrinkled as if there was a bad smell, her mouth curved into a harsh frown. She swept past the teens to the counter, nearly bumping into Brass on the way. Once she reached the counter, she pulled a paper out form the pile she was holding and placed it imperiously on the counter in front of Henry.

"I want you to put this on the bulletin board over there," she said, her voice making it obvious that that had been an order, not a command. Henry just glanced down at the lime green paper, reading its message over quickly.

His eyes widened for a second before he composed his face and plastered on the grin he reserved for particularly rude customers he wanted to leave quickly. "I will see what I can do ma'am. Of course I have to get this approved by the manager first."

"I suppose I couldn't expect the cashier to handle this," the woman mused. "Well, just make sure take care of it young man. Do not forget." With that she swept out of the store, this time nearly running into Rokusho, who moved out of her way just in time.

A minuet or two of shocked silence went by and probably would have continued much longer if Sarah hadn't peeked her head over the counter, glancing around. "She's gone, right?" the blond asked, still not coming completely out of her hiding place just incase.

Ikki nodded and Sarah let out a relived sigh. Before anyone could really ask what was going on, she had placed the medapart back on the counter and was starting to leave.

"Wait, who was that?" Erika asked, the concern she showed surprising Sarah. Sarah was about to answer when Erika added, "And why were you hiding behind the counter like some scared little kid?" Sarah scowled slightly at the last comment.

"Nobody and no reason," she finally answered, just in the hope of bugging Erika, who she definitely did not feel like dealing with at that moment. "Now I have to go. Right now," she added when Ikki opened his mouth. Quickly turning her back to everyone she started out for the door.

"Aren't you going to fix that medapart?" Turning around, Sarah saw the old man looking at her intently. "Or can you not?"

"Look, I don't have time, I have to go. Now." For some reason the old man's last comment bugged her more than Erika's. She became even more frustrated when the old man just gave her a disappointed look before turning back to his pudding cup with a sigh. Despite the fact that all her common sense was screaming at her that sigh sent Sarah marching over to the medapart.

She was angry at just about everyone in the store in the moment, especially the old man who she felt like she had to show she could fix the part, and on top of that she was freaking out about her grandmother and was just generally stressed. And that was how she thought best, even if she only vaguely realized that fact. For some reason she had a habit of seeing things with much more clarity when she was under stress.

It was for that exact reason that she almost instantly saw what had been eluding her the entire time the moment she looked at the inner workings of the medapart. Honestly, she felt like smacking herself it was so completely obvious.

"Look right here," she said, pointing. "These wires in the back are connected wrong. This one should go here and that one should go there." She indicated what she meant and turned to Koji. "You'll have to fix that on your own because I have to get back to the house right now." Without further ado, she was out the door and walking behind the building to grab her bike.

As Sarah threw her bag into the basket and snapped on her helmet, she found herself thanking God that Henry had wanted the bike out back. If her grandmother had seen it in front of the store she would have known Sarah was there and, well…Sarah shivered, thinking about the amount of trouble she would have been in. Without any more delay, Sarah jumped on her bike and was off, peddling like the hounds of Hell were after her.

Everyone looked out the window when a girl on a bike whizzed past. They were all silent except for the old man, who was chuckling to himself. He stopped chuckling when Henry walked over and handed him the green paper. He read it with a frowned as everyone started talking again.

"Well, she was certainly nice," Karen commented at the same time Koji mumbled "Commoner."

"Dudes, what was that about?" Rintaro asked, looking around at everyone as if they were supposed to know.

"Yes Doctor, what was that about?" Rokusho asked Dr. Aki as Rintaro tried to explain that wasn't what he meant. The white medabot had earlier been warned by Metabee that something was going on. The yellow medabot hadn't explained anything in detail however since it was about that time Sarah had come out of the school with Ikki and Erika.

"Ahh, yes, Rokusho," Aki replied, pulling his attention away from the green paper. "I wasn't expecting you here and I thank you for not saying anything about who I am. That would have ruined everything."

"And everything would be…?"

"I explained my plan to everyone else since I asked them here. You see, I have been hearing," Aki paused, searching for the right word, "interesting things about that girl. I wanted to see for myself if all the rumors were true."

"And were they?" Rokusho asked.

"Both fortunately and unfortunately it seems," Aki replied looking at the green paper again. Folding up the paper and putting it in his pocket, Aki continued with a grin. "The fortunate makes it all worth it however I think. I honestly hid that wiring problem rather well if you ask me. And to top that all off that is one of my prototype parts, so she fixed it without any knowledge of how that particular part should be."

"I'm glad everything worked out for you Dr. Aki," Koji said. "But did you honestly have to drag Karen and me out here?"

"Well, I needed your help to see if she had the necessary skill."

"Necessary skill for what Doctor?" Brass spoke up for the first time.

"To be my apprentice of course." There was a general "What?" from everyone except Karen, who simply clapped her hands happily, and Henry, who seemed to have known what the eccentric doctor had been planning from the very beginning.

"That seems like a wonderful idea Uncle Aki," Karen said happily. "Sarah seems like such a nice girl."

"I'm glad you approve," Aki said with a smile at his niece.

"You can't do that," Ikki, Rokusho and Metabee exclaimed together. They looked at each other in surprise, as did everyone else.

Aki gave them a clam look. "I can't can I? And why would that be?" he inquired. The three gave an awkward silence, not knowing how to answer the question without letting everyone know about Sarah's lack of a medabot. When they still did not answer, Aki grinned. "No reason huh? Well don't worry yourself to much. I have a feeling I know what the problem is, and I should be able to handle it."

Standing up, Aki headed for the door, indicating for Karen to follow him. "Wait Doctor," Henry yelled just before the man exited. Aki turned around questioningly. "You forgot to pay. Again."

Aki waved his hand dismissively, "Don't worry about that. Just put it on my tab or something." With that he left the store, his niece in tow. Henry grumbled and reached into his pocket, searching for some extra cash to pay for the Doctor, yet again.

"Dr. Aki," Rokusho said, stopping the man before he left.

"Yes?" Aki asked, turning to the medabot.

"I don't know what you're planning, but you had better not involve that girl."

Aki just smiled before leaving the store and its shocked occupants, still trying to comprehend the news he had just given them.

Rokusho in particular was concerned what the results of Aki's plan could be for the girl he was coming to view as a close friend. "What scheme does he have this time?" the white medabot mumbled under his breath.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

"…next week…people coming over…must clean the place thoroughly…this weekend…" Sarah chewed on her dinner and listened to her grandmother talk, nodding and making little sounds of agreement when it seemed appropriate, with only key phrases of what the older woman was saying making it through. From what she could tell, her grandmother was having some kind of gathering next weekend and they needed to clean the place up this weekend. Joy.

Eventually dinner was finished and cleared up, leaving Sarah with some time read. She lounged on the couch, her glasses sitting on the small table next to her and a well read book in her hands and only a few inches from her face. The book was open but she was making no effort to read, instead letting her thoughts wander.

Her grandmother had apparently not seen her earlier and since Sarah had some how got home before her she was none the wiser. She had gone on a bit about useless store clerks but that was pretty much it. Sighing, Sarah dragged her attention back to the normally riveting book. The effort was in vain however since she was soon giving the page an unfocused stare, her thoughts elsewhere once more.

Rokusho had said he wanted to talk to her about something and they hadn't gotten a chance earlier, what with her having to rush away after hiding behind the checkout counter. Well, he would most likely be at the shed that night, they could talk then.

Drat, she had forgotten to buy some new batteries, she suddenly remembered. Now she would have to continue to use the family flashlight under the sink. She would have to make sure the batteries did not go out in that one too.

Marking the place in her book, Sarah flipped ahead, telling herself she was not technically skipping ahead since she had already read the entire book. Even skipping ahead to one of her favorite parts did not help Sarah concentrate on the book though.

_Who was that old guy in the store? _she soon found herself wondering. He seemed familiar, although she could not figure out why. And the way he had gone and thought she could not fix that medapart, what was up with that? For the actions of some random old guy it sure seemed to be bugging her a lot.

In frustration she snapped the book shut and picked up her glasses. As she put them back on, she turned in the direction of the kitchen. "I'm heading to bed Grandma," she said, voice loud enough to carry the distance. "Good night."

"Good night Sarah," the old woman called from the kitchen in a grandmotherly voice. As Sarah walked up the stairs, Rembrandt close behind, she mused how sometimes the old woman could seem caring, much like a normal grandmother. Most of the time she was just frustrating and cold though, Sarah soon reminded herself when she saw the green paper lying on the phone table on the hallway. Making a disgusted noise, Sarah folded up the paper and put it in her pocket, finally realizing who next week's visitors were going to be.

Sarah looked up from the part she was working on when there was a soft knocking at the door. Putting down the wire cutters, she hurried over and opened it. Standing in the little patch of light coming from the open door was Rokusho, Baton sitting on his shoulder. Smiling, Sarah moved out of the way to let the two in.

After hanging up his cloak, Rokusho walked over to the table where Sarah had been working, Baton fluttering over to perch on his shoulder. Together, the two looked at the damaged part, ignoring the comments of "It's not totally fixed yet," coming form Sarah.

"The quality of your repair work is rather good," Baton commented, launching himself off of Rokusho's shoulder to land on Sarah's. The blond smiled, happy for the compliment.

"Where did you get this piece?" Rokusho asked, looking at the dented casing. Despite the damage the piece was newer than anything he had seen Sarah fixing up.

"Well, one of the guys in my mechanics class, a friend of mine, asked me to fix it up. I guess it's his little brother's. Sounds like some kids were a bit rough in some robattle and his medabot took a beating. He said nobody at his house could fix it and they don't exactly have the money to go around buy new medaparts, so…"

"He asked you too," Rokusho concluded, pleased that the girl's skill was being recognized.

"Yep and I told him I'd get it fixed soon. Since I have a feeling you came to tell me something, do you mind if I work while you do?"

"Not at all," Rokusho replied. Sarah thanked him and went back to her seat and the work she had abandoned when Rokusho came in. Baton fluttered off of Sarah's shoulder to land on the table and watch her work with a critical eye.

"So what did you want to tell me this afternoon Rokusho?" Sarah asked without looking up. Not turning her head, she reached out to the tools lined up next to her, hand searching around for a screwdriver.

"I was planning to tell you about those medafighters," Rokusho replied, handing Sarah the screw driver. She thanked him and he continued. "I ran into them the other day trying to take more metals. I chased them off, but the situation has me worried."

"How come you didn't tell me yesterday?" Sarah asked, more out of curiosity than any other emotion.

"Well, I didn't want to worry you but-"

"Then we talked to Dr. Aki and he told us some information we thought you might like to know," Baton interrupted.

"Dr. Aki? You mean the guy who, like, invented medabots?" Sarah asked excitedly, apparently not hearing anything past the name. "You guys know him? That's so cool. Wish I could meet him," she mumbled, her excitement ebbing slightly.

"Yes, it would be that Dr. Aki," Rokusho confirmed, not mention that she already had met the man. "From what he told us, it appears the situation might be a bit worse than we thought."

"Worse than them stealing people's medals?" Sarah asked incredulously, finally looking up from her work.

"Yes. The Doctor seems to think they might be working with a group of troublemakers that has popped up of late. We're not sure, but we think their intentions might involve stopping the production of medabots altogether," Rokusho gravely informed the teen. Her face paled slightly when Rokusho finished speaking, but that was her only sign of shock at his news.

"Why would Jon and his goons want to be working with them then?" Sarah asked, the only thing she could really think of at the moment.

"I suspect they may not know the true intentions of the group," Rokusho replied. "But I thought it would be best to let you know since they think you have some kind of connection with me."

"And the real leaders of this whole thing might just know you have a rare medal. You'll think they'll come after me or something if they do, don't you?" Sarah asked, understanding what Rokusho was getting at.

"That is my concern, yes," Rokusho replied. "I was hoping if you were informed you might be more careful than last time." The white medabot's voice carried a slight hint of reprimand.

"I was totally being careful last time," Sarah protested, not missing Rokusho's tone of reproach. "They just snuck up on me, that's all."

"Well, just to be on the safe side, I think I'll keep an eye on you," Rokusho replied. He tone said the case was closed but Sarah had no intention of leaving it at that.

"You can't do that Rokusho. Not only am I quite capable of taking care of myself, if my grandmother were to catch you…God I don't even want to think of it." This argument seemed to have no effect on Rokusho, so Sarah tried another tact. "At least think of the trouble it would get me into."

"I'll be careful," was Rokusho's only response. Sarah looked at the medabot who had become her friend, wondering how to convince him of a different course of action. She knew he was just worried about her, a fact that touched her deeply, but he did not seem to realize just what he was dealing with when it came to her grandmother. Well, maybe it was time she gave him an idea just how bad she really was when it came to medabots.

"Rokusho, you remember the woman that came into the store earlier?"

"The one that had you hiding behind the counter?"

"That was my grandmother," Sarah replied, pausing to let the information to sink in. "And trust me when I tell you, she was being nice." Still Rokusho seemed not to care and Sarah gave him a frustrated look. "Here, look." Sarah dug into her pocket and pulled out the green paper from earlier. She did not really know why she had decided to bring it with her but as she handed it over to Rokusho she was glad because now she at least had some evidence.

Baton flew to Rokusho's shoulder to read the paper the white medabot was unfolding. They both stared at the paper for a short time before exchanging concerned looks.

"See, she's a monster," Sarah said. "'If you see medabots as the heartless machines they really are, then you must attend a P.O.M meeting,'" Sarah disgustedly quoted the flyer she had seen many times before. "She does this every time we move somewhere new. And it's a lame name too. 'People Opposed to Medabots,' seriously?"

Rokusho simply turned the paper to face Sarah and tapped on a little symbol on the top of the page. "Do you recognize this Sarah?" Sarah looked at the image Rokusho was indicating. Inside of a circle was hexagon, obviously representing a medabot medal. Running through the circle and, inevitably, the medal was a line, like on a No Parking sign.

"Yeah," she replied in confusion, wondering what was so important about the little mark. "Like I said, she always starts one of these things. Never changes the flyers except to change our address and number. Why?"

"That group we were telling you about, from what we know this is their symbol," Baton informed the teen.

Face drained of color, eyes wide in shock, Sarah opened and closed her mouth, trying to pick from the numerous responses her brain was supplying her with. Eventually she settled for a stuttered, "W-what?"

"You'll have to be extremely careful," Rokusho informed her, "since it seems your grandmother is involved with these people. For quite some time biased on what you said."

"We should tell Dr. Aki about this," Baton said to Rokusho. "I don't think he knows this group has been around for so long." Baton turned to Sarah, who had put her face in her hands. "Thank you for telling us that, it might be very useful information."

Sarah pulled her face out of her hands and looked at the bird disbelievingly. "You seriously just said that? We find out my grandmother is involved with a group whose goal is getting rid of medabots and you're thanking me? Aren't you guys concerned about this at all?" She looked from Baton to Rokusho, both of whom seemed to be taking the news about her grandmother much better than she was.

"Sarah, we realize you have no control over being related to her. We don't hold this against you," Rokusho told her, addressing to what he knew her real worry was. She simply stared back at him for a short time before putting her head back into her hands.

"God, why can't she just disown me or something? I mean, I knew she hated medabots and all, but this?" Talking more to herself then to the room's other occupants, she continued with her rant until Rokusho thought it best to interrupt.

"I'm still going to be keeping an eye on you. Especially now, actually," he informed her. This got Sarah to stop, her head whipping up so she could look at the medabot.

"Definitely not. It'll be even more dangerous for you. If anything, you should be around me less."

"Sarah, you have no medabot to protect you and if you get attacked you won't be able to defend yourself," Rokusho pointed out.

"What do you mean I won't be able to defend myself? I can take care of myself. I would like to point out that last time I was completely out numbered." Sarah's protests continued, Rokusho countering them the best he could, and Baton watched the entire argument like it was some kind of verbal tennis match. The rest of the night passed in that way, neither party willing to give in, thinking they were doing what was best for the other.

The weather was a bit on the cold side, but the sun was shining and she had spent all of Saturday cooped up in the house cleaning. Sarah had needed to get into the fresh air and away from her grandmother. So, she had put on one of her thicker hoodies and a pair of jeans, asked permission to head out and, once permission was granted, hopped on her bike with Rembrandt close behind and headed into town.

She was now sitting comfortable on a bench in the local park, book in hand, bike behind her, dog laying peacefully next to her feet. The bench she had chosen was situated perfectly in the sun so the slight chill to the air was not affecting her all that much. In front of her was a playground, currently devoid of any young children. Stretching her legs out contentedly, Sarah turned the page of her book, stifling a yawn with a free hand.

Even though her head was currently preoccupied by the book, Sarah did not miss when Rembrandt lifted his head and looked intently behind her. She also did not miss when he gave the doggie look equivalent to "Oh, it's just you," and put his head back down. Turning another page, Sarah did not turn around when she said, "Hello Rokusho. Are you going to just stand behind me or are you going to come and have a seat?"

Rokusho came over and sat next to Sarah, looking at the empty playground. The few nights previous had ended with him winning their argument. Since then, Rokusho had become rather more prominent in Sarah's life, practically popping up whenever she got to the end of her street. He was there when she left school or when she left the house to do some small grocery shopping or just about any other time she left her house and her grandmother wasn't around.

The fact was that Sarah enjoyed having Rokusho around. He was pleasant company, willing to talk or, as he was now, just be there while she did something like read. Having Rokusho around was how Sarah had often imagined what it would be like to have a medabot. It was a feeling that she knew would lead to problems eventually but for now she would try to just enjoy the feeling.

Marking the place in her book, Sarah turned to Rokusho, mouth open to say something. She closed it when the sound of shouting and running feet, heading in their direction, reached her ears. They both looked in the direction of the road and soon were met with the sight of teenager running down the street, glancing behind her as she ran. Behind her were some children who could not be out of the fifth grade, yelling for her to stop and to give something back.

As the two on the bench watched, the teen swerved and began running in their direction. The children, doing their best to keep up, were slowly being out distanced by the longer legged high schooler.

"Oi," Sarah yelled to the girl. The runner glanced in her direction, the slight look of shock on her face broadcasting the fact she had not noticed the two on the bench. As she looked at Sarah she stopped, a frown forming.

As the other teen examined Sarah, Sarah examined right back. She was her height, if not a bit taller, and of slight build. Her clothes were of a loose fit, baggy jeans and voluminous jacket over an ill-fitting shirt. Straight, black, shoulder length hair framed a pretty, if pale, face currently marred by a deepening scowl. Hazel eyes looked out at the two figures on the bench with some venom. On her wrist was a medawatch.

Ignoring the death glare, Sarah spoke, "You should give back whatever you took." She pointed to the rapidly approaching kids.

The teen ignored Sarah's comment. "You," she practically hissed.

"Me?" Sarah said, confused. She had known a number of people who disliked her, Erika being the most resent, but random strangers seeming to hate her guts was a new one. "Are we supposed to know each other?"

"I suppose you don't know me, but I certainly know you. And that stupid white medabot of yours," she spat. "You're that girl that keeps beating up Jon."

"Whoa there," Sarah said, holding up her hands. "You have some misconceptions in some dire need of correcting. First off, I have never beaten up Jon. I've defended myself against him, but never beaten up. I think I should point out he's the one that got a gang together to beat me up. Secondly, Rokusho here is not my-"

Sarah was interrupted by a shout of, "That mean girl stole my medal," as the group of young children finally caught up with the teen.

"Quite kiddies, the grown ups are talking," the thief told them before turning back to Sarah. She was surprised to see it was now Sarah glaring at her.

"Give the kid back the medal," Sarah ordered, standing up. Next to her, Rokusho got off of the bench as well.

"I'd like to see you make me," the girl replied with a sneer. "Tell you what, I'll give the medal back if you beat me in a robattle. If you can't though, I get your medal too."

"Look, I'm not going to go around beating Rokusho's medal. For one thing that would be wrong and for another his medal is not-"

"It's fine Sarah," Rokusho interrupted, stepping forward. "We can not let this bully take the child's medal."

Sarah just sighed, "Well, if you're okay with the deal, I guess I can't argue."

"You two done yet?" Sarah and Rokusho glanced over at the girl before turning back to each other.

"So, are you going to need any help?" Sarah asked, ignoring the angry comments now coming from the thief.

"I am quite capable of battling on my own but if you believe help is necessary..."

"Well, I'll just add my two cents if it looks like you need it then." Sarah turned back to the other teen.

"Are you two ready to robattle or what?" the girl asked impatiently, ready to transport her own medabot.

"We're ready." Rokusho stepped up as the girl transported her medabot. A flash of green light and soon a Phoenix medabot was standing in front of them. The girl quickly inserted the medal and stepped back. Activated, the phoenix medabot floated upwards, looking at its newest opponent.

"Okay Phoenix, lets finish this fast," the girl spoke into her medawatch. "Start things off with a flame attack."

Without warning, the phoenix medabot charged forward, releasing a jet of flame once it got close enough to Rokusho. The white medabot was forced to jump out of the way or else suffer from the damaging fire attack. Sarah too had to move quickly out of the way as the flames continued to shoot in her direction.

"Watch it," Sarah yelled at the other girl, who just sneered.

"Phoenix, aim your next attack at the medafighter," the girl ordered into the medawatch. With a nod, the bird like medabot turned towards Sarah, aiming one of its flamethrowers in her direction. Sarah, realizing the girl's plan, threw herself to the side, feeling the heat from the attack she barely dodged.

Sarah was turning back to the medabot when it went flying past her, landing in a heap before shakily floating back into the air. Standing where the phoenix medabot had been moments before, aiming another attack at Sarah, was a very angry Rokusho.

"Your robattle is with me. Leave Sarah out of it," he ordered, charging forward before the other medabot could recover from the last attack. Rokusho landed a powerful hammer fist on the lower part of the other medabot, causing it to sink a few feet.

"Flame attack Phoenix," ordered the other girl, unfazed. Phoenix opened its mouth, preparing to attack.

"Rokusho, duck down," Sarah yelled, noticing that the phoenix medabot had been bringing up one of its flamethrowers, obviously planning to hit Rokusho as he moved to the side. Rokusho dropped, the flames of his opponent's attack passing harmlessly over him.

"Awesome, now aim for the head," Sarah said when the flames stopped. Following her advice, Rokusho quickly got back to his feet and aimed another hammer fist at the other medabot. The attack connected and the other medabot was shot backwards until it hit a tree. It slid down to the ground, medal ejected.

The other girl rushed forward, grabbing the medal and medabot and started to run off. "Oh no you don't," Sarah said, rushing forward and grabbing the other girl by the collar. "Little kid medal first, bad guy escape second."

"Like I'm going to give it to you," the girl snarled.

The blond shrugged, "Fine, it's not like I didn't see you put it in your pocket when you got here." Ignoring the other girl's protest, Sarah reached for one of the pockets on the girl's jacket and pulled out the medal. Sarah released the girl's collar and she ran off but not before stopping to glare at Sarah.

"Thank you so much." Sarah looked down to see one of the kids. The other kids soon followed their friend over to stare adoringly up at Sarah.

"This your medal?" she asked the first kid, holding out the item in question.

"Yeah. That mean girl robattled me and stole it when I lost," the child explained without prompting as he took the medal back.

"It was so cool how you got it back though," one of the other kids piped up. "Your medabot is so awesome."

"You should probably be telling him that," Sarah commented, looking over at Rokusho who was standing outside the circle of children. "He is pretty awesome though," she added with a smile. "Oh, and he's not-" Sarah never got to finish the sentence because the kids had turned to Rokusho by this time and were taking Sarah's advice.

Sarah watched the kids gathered around Rokusho with a smile. She would never have gotten the medal back without Rokusho, she knew that. Her smile faltered for a second as she thought about the girl who had just run away. Her group was taking medals from little kids now it seemed. Well, that would be a problem she would worry about later she decided as the little kids came back to swarm around her.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

"Rokusho, you need to stop following me around," Sarah said as she pushed her bike off the school grounds. Rokusho was walking on the other side of the bike as they turned onto the sidewalk.

"No matter how many times you tell me, I'm not going to let you wander around and get hurt again because of me," Rokusho replied.

"I've told you this before. It was because of something I did that those guys came after me, you had nothing to do with it."

"Well, this time it would."

"Rokusho," Sarah said angrily, stopping. "You may be worried about me, but I'm worried about you. Grandma almost saw you yesterday and she was dropping hints for the rest of the day how if she found out I had a medabot that I would be lucky if the scrap yard would take it once she found it."

"As I've told you before," Rokusho began, about to start in on his side of his and Sarah's normal argument. He was stopped by someone form behind calling for both Sarah and himself.

They both turned to see a red head getting out of a long, pink limousine and head in their direction. Sarah was too shocked by the other girl's sudden appearance to say anything as Karen came rushing over and hugged her.

"Oh, hello Sarah. You too Rokusho," Karen said cheerfully, finally ending her hug and backing off to look at the two of them. "Uncle and I came to pick up Ikki and everyone. We were hoping to run into you as well and here you are. Come on."

Enthusiastically, Karen grabbed Sarah's hand and began to pull her in the direction of the pink limousine. "What about my bike?" Sarah asked as the red head began to drag her away and the bike's handle bar began to slip from her grasp.

Karen stopped and looked at the bike thoughtfully. "I'll just have it put in the back. There's enough room for it I'm sure."

Sarah glanced in the direction of the limousine, muttering, "I thought you might say that."

"What?" Karen asked.

"Just wondering what you need to see Rokusho and me for. I need to get home soon."

"Oh, I'm sure Uncle will explain it all when we get to the limo. And can't you just call and ask to get home late?"

"Well, maybe, but I really don't think-"

"All settled then," Karen said, grabbing onto Sarah's bike herself and pushing it in the direction of the limousine's trunk. Sarah quickly grabbed her backpack from the bike's basket and slung one of the straps over her shoulder.

Forlornly, Sarah watched as her bike was taken away from her and she was left with no other choice but to follow the other teen unless she wanted to seem rude. "From now on," she said quietly to Rokusho, "I'm not letting people touch that bike. This is the second time I've seen someone take it all polite like that and I get the feeling something just as bad as last time will happen."

"You could have told her no," Rokusho pointed out as they walked towards the pink automobile, watching Karen herself put the bike in the trunk.

Sarah shook her head. "I'd feel like I was kicking a puppy or something. Now if it was Erika, I could have said no easily."

"You really should try to get along with her better," Rokusho told her.

"She starts it," Sarah said in a weak attempt to defend herself.

Rokusho just sighed at his friend's childish behavior as Karen came back up to them. Karen led them to a door all the way at the end of the limousine and opened the door for the both of them.

"Uncle will be very glad we were able to find the two of you," Karen commented as Sarah and Rokusho climbed into the vehicle.

As Sarah stared at the two people sitting across from her, a part of her brain, the one trying to avoid processing the important part of the information her eyes were sending her, was being interested by the fact that the interior of the vehicle was in fact not completely pink as she had anticipated and was actually the rather neutral grey.

Another part of her brain, also having a hard time processing the facts being presented to it, was surprised to see Koji was one of the people already in the car, sitting there looking rather grumpily with his arms crossed.

Finally, as Karen came into the car and took a seat next to her uncle, Sarah was forced to come to terms with the fact of who the other passenger was. Sitting across from her, smiling like a maniac and now wearing a lab coat, was the pudding guy from the convenience store. Now more than ever he looked familiar.

"Hello Sarah, I'm pleased to finally meet to in person," the pudding guy greeted her, leaning forward wit ha hand extended in greeting.

Sarah briefly gave the hand a worried look, wondering what was going on, before she reached forward and shook it. "It's…uhh…nice to…uhhh… meet you too?" Sarah greeted, feeling completely foolish because she had no idea who the man was. "Just…uhh…who are you?"

"He is Dr. Aki," Rokusho informed her, arms folded. He sounded a bit irritated but Sarah wasn't paying as much attention to his tone as she was to his words. Sarah's jaw dropped and she let go of the man's hand, shocked.

"You're Dr. Aki? The Dr. Aki?"

"I see you've heard of me," Aki said happily. "Of course," he added "who hasn't?"

Rokusho interrupted his ego preening. "Dr. Aki, I thought I warned you about involving-"

"Now calm down Rokusho," Aki said, holding up a hand to stop further protests. "There's no need to get worked up. Now Sarah," Aki turned to the still stunned teen. "Has Rokusho here explained the problem to you?"

"You mean about that group of people who want to get rid of medabots? Yeah, he told me about them."

"Good, so I don't have to explain it to you. If wee just wait for everyone else to show up, then I can explain everything else as well."

At that moment someone knocked on the limousine's window. Happily, Karen opened the door when she was that it was Ikki, Metabee, and Erika standing outside. All three got into the car, Erika trying to get a seat as far away from Sarah as possible and Ikki trying to get one as close to Karen as possible. They both failed, Ikki ending up next to Koji and Erika, much to the disgust of both herself and Sarah, ended up next to the blond. Metabee simply took the only remaining seat next to Rokusho.

Once everyone was inside, Sarah and Erika glaring at each other, the limousine took off. As the vehicle began to wind its way through the streets, Aki began to talk.

"Now, you've all been told about the recent problem not only with that gang of medafighters in the area but about People Opposed to Medabots group as well, correct?"

Everyone nodded and Dr. Aki continued. "Good. Now, I'm sure you also know these two groups are working together, trying to steal medals. It is currently unknown exactly what there plan is, but what we do know is they plan to completely stop the production of medabots.

"Now, here is where the biggest problem arises. You all know that the Robattle World Championships are being held again this summer I'm sure."

Sarah looked over at Rokusho, raising an eyebrow as if asking him to explain everything that was going on. She did not see what the World Championships had to do with her and was beginning to wonder why she was there at all. Rokusho simply sat there looking frustrated so Sarah turned her attention back to Dr. Aki and his explanation.

"…This year it was decided a new way of picking a county's three team members would be different. Instead of the three medafighters with the most victories, there will be a tournament held in each country. Medafighters from all over can come to compete in one of three blocks. The winners of each block will make up the team."

"This is all very interesting Doctor, but what does it have to do with the other problem?" Koji asked impatiently.

"I was getting there Koji," Aki told him. Looking at everyone to make sure there would be no more interruptions, he continued. "My sources have found out not only is the local gang of medafighter joining in Japan's tournament, but that members of this P.O.M group, as they call themselves, are joining. It is also suspected that this P.O.M organization is a worldwide one and that other members will be joining the tournaments in other countries."

"I can see why you don't want them joining the tournament, but why is it such a big deal?" Erika asked. "And why did you have to bring us all here to tell us about it?" Her last question included a glare in Sarah's direction.

"Medafighters are allowed to take their opponent's medals again, aren't they?" Ikki asked, understanding what was going on.

Dr. Aki sighed and nodded his head. "Yes. I can only figure that somehow these P.O.M people got onto the Championship Board. Really, we need to start doing background checks or something," he murmured. "But, now you can see what the point is behind telling you all about this. We obviously need to get as many strong medabots and medafighters into the tournament for Japan as we can, since the medal rule does not take effect until the actual Championship."

"Why wouldn't they just set it up so they could get as many medals as they wanted during these qualifying tournaments?" Metabee asked, voicing a question many of the vehicle's occupants had been thinking.

"The guess is that they are after the rare medals," Dr. Aki replied with a sigh. "It makes the most sense that they would wait for the main event, where they have a better chance of getting the rare medals. And if they don't put the rule into place for these qualifying tournaments it will take longer for people to get suspicious about what is going on."

"So, you want all of us to join this tournament then?" Metabee asked, confirming what they were being told. "Don't see why you had to tell us all this, we would have anyway."

"I know Metabee," Aki said. "But I wanted all of you to know what was going on, to know why you need to make sure you do your best to win. If you can make it to the Championships, and I'm sure you can, I think that will help lessen the danger this new organization posses. You and Ikki and Koji and Sumilidon shouldn't have any problems winning whatever blocks you get put in, we'll just have to hope you're not put in the same ones."

As Dr. Aki was talking, Sarah was trying to process what he was saying. So the World Championships were soon, well that would be cool if they were held nearby; maybe she could sneak off and see them. The same went for the qualifying tournament, that could be fun to see and maybe some of her friends from Tokyo would be there. But why was she here, being told about all of this before it became public knowledge? As Dr. Aki continued talking, Sarah began to get a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach as she thought more about why she had been asked to come.

"…Now you should tell your other friends about this too, like that little monkey boy who says 'Dude' a lot and that other group, the Nails, or something like that. They should join, as should you girls. The more people we can trust that enter this tournament, the better."

All the humans, except Sarah, who found herself wishing something would happen to get her out of the entire mess, nodded at what Dr. Aki said. Metabee was getting very excited at the prospect of some challenging opponents while Rokusho seemed to being glowering in Aki's direction, now knowing what the Doctor's plan was.

"So, now that we know all this, where are we going Dr. Aki?" Ikki asked.

"The convenience store where Henry works to sign you all up. The new tournament set up is being announced today since the qualifying tournaments are all starting in a few weeks. Sign up is starting today though and, since the chance to participate is being given to as many people as possible, registration is at some places people visit a lot."

Finally Sarah spoke up, not will to let things go any further. "Look, I can't join this tournament thing. Can you just drop me off here or something?"

"Why can't you join?" Aki asked as everyone, except three particular passengers, looked at Sarah in confusion. "We really need your help," Aki continued. For some reason, Sarah got the feeling that he knew about the fact she didn't have a medabot. But surely he wouldn't….

"The place it's being held is too far for me to go," Sarah answered quickly, not really thinking.

"I haven't said where the tournament is being held yet," Aki pointed out.

"Well, where ever it is, it's probably too far. These things usually are," Sarah replied hastily, realizing her mistake.

"It's the next town over, same place the last World Championships was held. They'll be held there this summer too. You can get there in about an hour by bus."

"Well, isn't that interesting," Sarah commented, stalling for time as she thought up another excuse. Unfortunately, with most of the vehicle's occupant's staring at her, her mind seemed to have gone blank.

"She said she was unable to participate, do not try to force her into your little scheme Doctor," Rokusho spoke up. Rokusho was practically glaring at Dr. Aki Sarah noted. The feeling that the old man knew her secret increased suddenly and Sarah found herself desperately wanting to get away.

"Well, I'm sure she wouldn't mind explaining her actual reasoning to us," Aki commented with a smile in Sarah's direction.

It was then that Sarah knew without a doubt that Aki knew about her lack of a medabot and that he knew she knew he knew and he was, for some reason, trying to get her to tell everyone else so they knew. _Well, screw that_, she thought angrily, _I'm not playing whatever his game is_.

"I just thought it would be too far since these sorts of big events always seem to be for me," Sarah said with a sweet smile. "But since it's not I guess I can sign up no problem."

Next to her Rokusho turned to look at her in confusion, as did Ikki and Metabee. And, much to Sarah's glee, Aki's smile faltered for a second, replaced by his own look of confusion. The smile was back soon enough however, its brief absence probably missed by everyone else.

"I'm glad to hear that," he said as the limousine pulled to a stop. "And it looks like we're here too. Come on everyone, lets get out." Everyone quickly piled out of the vehicle, ready to head into the store.

"Wait a second," Sarah said. "I want to get my bike out of the trunk." The rough plan she had come up with was this: get her bike out of the trunk before she had to sign up, hop on the bike, and make her get away after a convenient excuse of having to get back to her house right away. The plan did involve leaving Rokusho behind, which she felt bad about, but it was the best she had come up with in a few seconds.

"Oh, we can get that out after everyone is registered. It shouldn't take long." Once more Aki smiled and Sarah silently swore, trying to come up with some excuse to leave.

With that they all walked into the store, Sarah dragging her feet at the back of group and wondering if she should just count her bike as a loss and leave. She wasn't much of a runner but she could probably get a few blocks between her and here before anyone went after her to find out just what her problem was. Of course, that left the whole problem of having to deal with these people in public somewhere else…

The store's door closed behind Sarah, causing her took look turn her head to look at it with a panicked expression. Watching everyone else surround Henry and the counter, Sarah thought desperately. Rokusho gave her a worried look but did not say anything, simply hoping she knew what she was doing. Sarah continued tot think, watching as Henry handed everyone some papers and pens. The others all took the registration forms and began to eagerly fill them out.

Finally an idea hit her. She could just fill out the registration form with fake information, it wasn't like there could possibly be any questions that she couldn't fake the information to. Later she could think of a reason important enough for her to miss the tournament. Confident her plan would work, Sarah went up to Henry and got the registration forms and a pen of her own. Finding a patch of empty counter space, Sarah began to fill out the form.

"Hey Henry," Ikki asked as Sarah was about half way through her own form. "What's this medabot serial number bit? Where are we supposed to get that at?"

Sarah froze as Henry answered the question. "It should be on the back of your medawatch. The medawatch comes with complete set of medaparts and both have the same serial number," the store clerk answered.

"But mine broke, remember. I had to get a new one," Ikki said. As Henry helped Ikki solve his problem, with protests from Metabee when the two had to check the area where his medal was slotted in, Sarah quickly skipped to the bottom of the registration form. There, as if to purposefully make her life harder, was the question about medabot serial number. The section didn't even have the common decency to have little individual spots for numbers so she could simply make something up. Instead there was only a continuous black line, giving Sarah no hint as to how many numbers she should put.

As the others got out there own medawatches, Sarah made up a number that she hoped was long enough and quickly finished filling out the rest of the form. Handing her form and pen back with the others, Sarah thought she was in the clear, until Henry spoke up. The store clerk had been flipping through the forms to make sure everything had been filled out properly when he spoke to the blond.

"Sarah, you missed some numbers here. In the medabot serial number part."

"Oh, did I? Sorry. Umm…Hey, why do we even need to fill that bit in? Does it really matter what the medabot we plan to use is?"

"In the actual Championships no. But for this they want you to register the medabot you plan to use too," Henry explained.

"Oh," Sarah answered. "Well, I'll just fix it then." Sarah came and took her form and pen back, looking up to see everyone waiting for her. "Guys, you can just leave without me. Leave my bike behind and I'll be fine."

"I thought you could get a ride home with everyone else," Karen said with a smile.

"That's nice of you," Sarah replied weakly, marveling at the extent of bad luck she could experience at once. She must have done something horrible in a past life or something to deserve all of this she figured.

As Sarah looked down at the sheet of paper, wondering just how many numbers she needed to add, everyone watched her. Ikki and Metabee exchanged worried looks and Rokusho stood there watching nervously.

"Just get out your medawatch and hurry up," Erika said in frustration, tapping her foot in impatience. Sarah looked up and saw Aki standing at the back of the group, smiling.

Throwing down the pen, Sarah gave in. She didn't care anymore, they could find out and all hate her because of her grandmother or think she was weird or pity her or whatever, her life would be a bit easier at least.

"I lied okay? I can't sign up for this stupid tournament because I couldn't participate if I wanted," Sarah almost shouted. "I don't have a medabot. I never have and I probably never will, at least until I get old enough to move away from my grandmother. So just leave me alone will you?" The last part of her little rant was directed specifically as the smiling Dr. Aki, although no one but the Doctor himself seemed to realize it.

Karen and Koji looked shocked both by the outburst and what they had just been told. Erika, however, reacted rather differently.

"You're lying, there's no way you couldn't have a medabot. You're in that repair class in school and everything. What are you scheming by making up all of this garbage?"

Sarah glared at Erika, fed up. "I'm not lying Erika, you can ask Ikki and Metabee about it. But I don't really care if you believe me or not. What I care about is leaving, which I'm going to do now. Karen, thank you for the offer of a ride, but I must decline." Without another word, Sarah headed for the door, glad to see that the driver had been kind enough to take out her bike while they were all in the store.

"Wait a second," Aki said, stopping Sarah in her tracks. The old man went over to Henry and got a new registration form. Walking back over to the teen, he handed her the paper. "Here, in case you change your mind."

"There's nothing to change my mind about," Sarah said, crumpling the paper in her hand. Instead of tossing the paper back at the Doctor she shoved it into her pocket however, then marched out of the store and got onto her bike. A few moments later she was gone, heading for her house.

The teens in the store watched as she left until Aki spoke up. "Karen, why don't you have everyone taken back to their homes? I want to talk to Henry, so I'll get my own ride home."

"Okay Uncle," Karen replied, still a bit shocked by what had just happened. "Come on everyone, let's go." Karen was followed out of the store and into the pink limousine by the others. The three who remained in the store watched as the pink vehicle pulled away.

Once everyone was gone, Rokusho turned to Dr. Aki. "What was that all about Doctor?" the medabot asked crossly.

"It needed to come out in the open eventually," Aki pointed out. "She's not a very good liar if you ask me and I really don't think she enjoyed having to keep the truth from everyone anyway."

"But you should have allowed her to make the choice of telling them," Rokusho pointed out, frustrated by Aki's actions. "Toying with her like that was unnecessary and cruel. Not only did you force her to tell everyone her secret, but to make her do so by putting the chance at joining the tournament in front of her? That was going to far Dr. Aki."

"Rokusho, if you have such a problem with the entire situation, why don't you do something about it?"

"I can not make everyone forget what Sarah told them just now," Rokusho pointed out needlessly.

"I know, but you obviously have problems with the way I gave her a chance to join the qualifying tournament. Why don't you act as her medabot for it? You two would have rather good chances."

Rokusho, about to further reprimand Aki, stopped when the man made his suggested. For a brief moment Rokusho stared at Aki. Then, without another word, Rokusho turned and left the store.

Now there were only two in the store, one smiling and the other leaning against the counter as he let out an exasperated sigh. "Really, was that necessary Dr. Aki?" Henry asked

"Yes, I think it was," Aki replied with a smile, turning to the younger man.

When he didn't say anything else, Henry felt he had to ask. "So, are you going to at least tell me what you're planning?"

"Why not?" Aki said with a shrug before starting his explanation. "As you know, I plan for that girl to become my apprentice. She can't however, if she doesn't have as complete a knowledge of medabots as possible. We both know she has no robattle experience and how can you truly understand medabots if you have not been able to make the deep bonds of friendship that comes through being partners in battle?"

"And that's why you want her to join the tournament, and maybe even go to the World Championships," Henry guessed. "But she doesn't have a medabot and you know why. The entire thing will just cause her trouble."

"That is where Rokusho comes in," Aki said. "He has no medafighter, and I really think it is time he moved on properly from the loss of Professor Hushi. Baton is all well and good but Rokusho needs to open up to someone besides a robotic parrot. And I've noticed he has become rather attached to the girl, so I thought things might just work out nicely for everyone if handled properly."

Henry still looked confused, so Aki continued his explanation. "Think about it Henry, a girl with no medabot, not allowed to have one, a medabot without a medafighter, not allowing himself to properly move on from the loss of his original one. Both are becoming good friends, so Baton tells me. If they just work together for this, things might work out for the best for both of them."

"But Rokusho is such a pacifist," Henry pointed out.

"Yes, most of the time. But if he needs to protect someone or something, he will fight. And with the current problem with that P.O.M group, he could reasonably rationalize the fighting to himself. Besides, he might think that joining this tournament with Sarah will allow him to help take down the group and thus protect her. Baton has told me they are both concerned about the girl's safety because of some resent developments in the entire issue."

"Her grandmother," Henry said, understanding that point well enough.

"And them targeting her to get to Rokusho in general," Aki added.

"It might just work," Henry said after some thought.

"Of course it will work," Aki said, looking a bit offended. "It is my plan after all."

Henry rolled his eyes before asking his next question. "Well, how long do you think it's going to take? The deadline is soon, even though the entire event is only being announced today."

"I have given them both an idea of what they could do," Aki said. "And after today's little spectacle, I'm sure the others will help move things along well enough without even knowing it. Ikki and Metabee can be rather persistent at times."

"You think they'll try to convince them to join?"

"Once the idea of those two working together occurs to them, I'm sure they will," Aki said, smiling to himself as he looked out the window.

------------------------------------------

AN: Sorry this is a bit late. Also sorry it will take a bit for the next update because I'm going to be gone for about three weeks on vacation. So, until then, thank you to everyone for reading and reviewing up to this point.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

"Dam it," Sarah swore, pounding a fist on her bed where it made a soft, unsatisfying thump. She was trying not to cry in frustration, but it wasn't working well. Her eyes were watering and her vision was becoming blurred, forcing her to take off her glasses so she could wipe her sleeve over her eyes. She was angry and depressed and wanted to lash out at something but she couldn't.

"Dam it," she swore again, putting her glasses back on and looking at the floor of her bedroom. She moved on the bed and there was the sound of crinkling paper from her pant pocket. Sarah reached a hand into her pocket and pulled out the crumpled registration form, having forgotten about the paper until then. She un-crumpled the paper and looked it over. Anger surging up again and she was about to rip it in half when she heard steps coming up the stares.

Shoving the paper back into her pocket, Sarah quickly flopped down onto her bed and grabbed a book on the nearby nightstand, making sure she was holding it right side up as she flipped to the bookmarked page. Her grandmother appeared in her doorway a few seconds later, looking in at her granddaughter, who looked as if she had been laying on her bed reading since she had gotten home.

"Is your homework done?" the old woman asked, suspecting the teen had put off her school work to read.

Andrea looked over the edge of her book and nodded her head before going back to reading. Her grandmother stood in the doorway a bit longer, as if looking for something to critique. She apparently found nothing because she soon left. Andrea continued to read, not surprised when her grandmother came back a minute later.

"Take your shoes off when you're on the bed young lady," the old woman told her.

"Yes Grandma," Sarah said as if she was being dragged away from a particularly interesting part of her book. Her grandmother continued to stand in the door until Sarah put her book down and took her shoes off. With a nod, Sarah's grandmother left again, this time not coming back.

Sarah sighed, placing the open book over her face and closing her eyes. She was being ridicules about this entire situation, she told herself. She knew she couldn't join the tournament so it shouldn't make her feel so horrible. She gave a little moan when she remembered she had told everyone she was without a medabot. Well, she thought, trying to comfort herself, the problems normally came when people found out why she didn't have a medabot, so she might not have anything to worry about.

Sarah moved the book back to the nightstand and rolled over, burying her head in her pillow. She felt like swearing some more but just sighed into the pillow's material instead. She heard Rembrandt come back into her room, having left when she had started having her little tantrum. He came up to her and shoved his cold, wet nose onto her hand. Not bringing her face out of the pillow, Sarah brought her hand over and started petting her dog. She sighed again, wishing that she could talk to Rembrandt, tell him how she felt and know he understood her. At least, she thought, she could talk to Rokusho later. She could tell him how she was feeling and he could listen and maybe he would tell her she was being foolish, maybe not. The point was that she would have someone who she could tell everything and who she knew would be listening.

When she went to the shed that night, Rokusho never showed up as he normally did.

Ikki sat at his desk, listening as Erika yelled at him, ranted at him, and general took out her frustrations on him.

Why hadn't he told her about Sarah not having a medabot? How much else had he not told her about the girl? Did he know what the consequences could be? She could be in that P.O.M group Dr. Aki had told them about for all they knew.

Ikki sighed as Erika continued to berate him, looking at any of his fellow students as they came in, his eyes begging for help. Of course, all of them knowing Erika's temper and all of them wanting to stay alive, they did not come over to help. Most of them actually left the room when they saw what was going on. Ikki thought he saw a blond head peek into the room at one point and quickly leave when Erika was noticed, but he wasn't that sure because that was when Erika moved in the way of his view of the door.

"Ikki, are you even listening to me?" Erika asked angrily, slamming her hand down on his desk.

"Of course I am Erika," Ikki replied.

"What was I just saying?"

"That I'm an idiot," Ikki told her, knowing that he had rather good chances at the moment of being right.

Erika nodded grudgingly, acknowledging the fact that he had known that at least. "Well, I guess you were listening. Anyway, I suppose it's a good thing that Sarah girl doesn't have a medabot."

"Erika," Ikki exclaimed, shocked.

"Come on, who knows what she's up to? With the way the tournament is working out this year, the last thing we need to worry about is her making it through and to end up working for the bad guys."

"Rokusho seems to trust her," Ikki pointed out.

"Well, why doesn't he just be her medabot for this thing and he can deal with the consequences when she turns out to be some raving, word domination obsessed lunatic?"

Ikki sat there silently, something Erika took to mean he was finally starting to agree with her. About to go one, the bell rang and Erika hurried out of the room. As Erika left the majority of the class hurried in, many of them giving Ikki apologetic and sympathetic looks.

Ikki only half paid attention in class for the rest of the day, the other half of his attention being spent on the blond girl who was sitting slumped over her desk and looking depressed.

"So, are you going to tell me why we didn't go and visit Sarah last night?" Baton asked, looking down from his perch on a tree branch at Rokusho, who was sitting in the shade of the tree. The wind picked up and the branch Baton was on swayed as a few leaves were carried away while the robotic parrot was forced to increase his grip. Sure now that he would not fall off, he continued to question the white medabot.

"And why exactly are you not leaving to see her home? You've normally left by now. She's not going to wait you know."

Rokusho sighed and looked up into the tree's red and yellow foliage, although he avoided looking at his friend. Baton looked at him expectantly, waiting for an answer, knowing Rokusho would break and tell him soon enough.

A few teens who had rushed out of school were passing by on the sidewalk and Rokusho had yet to answer or move. Baton was beginning to worry when Rokusho sighed again and finally answered.

"She has been telling me how she doesn't want me following her around. I'm simply being polite and doing as she has asked. Besides, she is always telling me how she can take care of herself if anything happens." More teens were passing by now, both Rokusho and Baton watching them. It was then that Baton realized that, from where they were sitting, they had a good view of part of Sarah's normal route back to her house. The parrot shook his head in frustration, wondering what had come over Rokusho since yesterday.

"She should have gone past by now," Rokusho mumbled from his seat under the tree.

"If you're that worried, you should have gone," Baton reprimanded him. "Besides, you said Dr. Aki was giving her a difficult time yesterday, you should be there to talk to her. Not sitting under some tree, overworking your circuits with worry."

Rokusho did not say anything, instead continuing to watch as people walked by, with no sign of a girl on an elderly bike speeding by. He was beginning to worry because he knew that she tired to get home as quickly as possible so as to not make her grandmother angry. He could not know that it was taking Sarah so long because she was waiting near the school exit for him, worrying that something might have happened.

"Me being around her so much is just going to cause her problems anyway," Rokusho said, more to himself than to Baton. "The chances of her grandmother finding out she is hanging out around a medabot increase and that could be disastrous with the way things are going."

"Rokusho, have you ever considered the fact that maybe you should try and move past Professor Hushi's death? He's not coming back you know."

Now Rokusho looked up at Baton, the sock evident in the lights of his eyes. A few more leaves fell from the tree as Rokusho stared up at the bird who looked calmly back down at him. "I know he's not coming back Baton," Rokusho eventually said once he got over his shock. "But what does that-"

"You know, it's getting rather cold out lately. Pretty soon winter's going to be here and it'll be snowing," Baton said, as if his comment from moments before had never happened. He fluffed up his feathers as if to ward of the impending cold and continued. "Sure would be nice to have a permanent place to stay. Doesn't need heating or anything, but a nice roof would do both my old circuits and yours some good."

"Baton, what is going on with you?" Rokusho asked, wondering if he should take his friend in to see Dr. Aki. Admittedly, he would rather not have to deal with the man at the moment, but it Baton was malfunctioning…

"I bet she would make a spare if you asked," Baton commented, watching a biker peddled by quickly. The teen on the bike, blond hair flying out from under a green helmet, was looking straight ahead and did not seem to notice Rokusho or Baton off to the side of the sidewalk. Rokusho did not notice the biker as he continued to look up at Baton in confusion.

"What?" Rokusho was now completely lost, no longer to even try and keep up with the conversation.

"Of course, asking for a spare key to the shed would involve talking to Sarah," Baton said, almost contemplatively. "And since you seem to have developed a sudden dislike for the girl…"

"I do not dislike Sarah," Rokusho protested. "She's not even my medafighter and I get along with her better than Metabee does with Ikki." Rokusho stopped talking after that comment, reminded of Aki's suggestion the day before. She would be safer if he just left her alone…

Baton looked down at the now thinking Rokusho smugly. While the white medabot had not told him about Aki's suggestion of the day before, Baton knew about it. He and Aki were trying to get the two to work together and see what a good team they could make, even if their motives were different.

It was long past time, Baton had decided when he first officially met Sarah, that Rokusho moved on.

"…So that's my idea," Ikki told his medabot as the two of them sat on the couch, game controllers in hand. The game they were playing had been paused for the last fifteen minuets as Ikki had talked.

"You think it would work?" Metabee asked, doubtful.

"Well, it might be kind of hard to convince Rokusho, I admit."

"Dinner's ready you two," Ikki's mother said from the kitchen. She had just finished setting the table and was now feeding their elderly dog Salty. Ikki's father was already sitting at the table and waiting patiently for the rest of the family to join him

"Hey, Mrs. Tenryou," Metabee said as the two took their seats at the table. "Could we ask a favor?"

"Go ahead," Mrs. Tenryou said with a sweet smile as she took her own seat.

"Well, we were wondering," Ikki began, now taking over, "if a friend of ours could use our house information to sign up for the World Championship qualifying tournament."

"No problem honey," Mrs. Tenryou said, still smiling. "Although I do expect to meet this friend at one point."

"As soon as we can convince her to go through with this Mrs. Tenryou, we'll do our best to get her out here."

Metabee could only hope they could convince Rokusho and Sarah to go along with the plan because Metabee really wanted the chance to battle the white medabot, never once thinking that they might end up in different blocks in the tournament.

Another day of school had ended and Sarah was standing outside of the building, her bike propped up next to her, worrying. What if something had happened to Rokusho after she had stormed out of the convenience store? She hadn't seen him since then and he was always around now… Sarah began to feel guilty about all of the times she had argued with Rokusho about him following her and promised that when next she saw him she would let him know how much she appreciated it.

"Hey Sarah, you want to come with us when we sign up for that qualifying tournament? We can all head out and work on that project for Mr. Season after."

Turning around, Sarah saw a small group of her friends from her medabot repair class, all looking at her expectantly. They, along with the rest of the school, had found out that Sarah did not have a medabot, a fact the blond could attribute to Erika yelling at Ikki yesterday. No one had really questioned why she was without a medabot and seemed to be taking the fact that she still managed to get parts for class as something that just happened.

"No, thanks anyway," Sarah said, shaking her head.

"Ah, come on Sarah," one of the girls in the group said. "It'll be fun. We're all heading to my house and you can stay for dinner with everyone. You never hang out with us after school."

"Sorry, Mei, I've got tons of other homework too and my grandmother doesn't like me taking to long to get home."

The girl who had given the invitation gave an over exaggerated pout. "Your grandmother is a real killjoy, you know that?"

"Yeah, I do," Sarah said with a laugh.

"Well, maybe we can all hang out some other time?"

"I'll try for this weekend," Sarah said.

"You'd better," Mei told her before everyone headed off. Sarah watched her friends go with a smile before she turned her attention back to watching for Rokusho to appear. If he didn't show up soon she would have to start off for her house, she thought as she took out her cell phone to check the time.

"Hey Sarah," came a voice from behind her. "How are things?"

"Fine Ikki, thanks for asking," Sarah said as she turned around to see the black haired boy.

"That's good. Hey, you think you can help me with our math homework?"

"I've got to head out for my house soon. Can't you ask Erika?"

"I would," Ikki said, "but right now she's kind of mad at me." Ikki rubbed the back of his head and laughed nervously.

"Sorry about that," Sarah said. "I asked you not to tell her. Sort of forgot about her temper."

"It's no problem. So, who you waiting for?"

Sarah was surprised by Ikki's question but she still answered it. "Rokusho actually. I'm a bit worried since I haven't seen him since that incident at the store on Tuesday."

"I've seen him around," Ikki told her, trying to get rid of her worried expression. While his statement did make her stop worrying she now looked rather sad.

"Well, good to know he's okay," Sarah said. She began to push her bike away from the school, no longer planning to wait for Rokusho. Ikki hurried after her and, out of politeness, Sarah continued to push her bike along instead of hopping on and riding away.

"So, you sure about that math homework?" Ikki asked as they continued walking.

"Yeah, sorry Ikki," Sarah told him, feeling a bit guilty that she could not be of any help.

Ikki shrugged and looked at a street they had just gone past. "Hey, I think that's a short cut for the way you heading."

Sarah looked at the name of the street Ikki was pointing out and gave him a suspicious look. "No it's not, that's the way to the Hop Mart. I'm taking the shortest route right now."

"Really?" Ikki said, giving a bad impression of being shocked by this news.

"What are you up to Ikki?" Sarah asked.

"Nothing," he told her innocently. "Hey, you want me to push your bike for you?"

"No," Sarah snapped, tightening her grip on the handle bars. She was about to tell Ikki that he could either tell her what was going on or leave when something at the edge of her vision caught her attention. She missed Ikki's vaguely panicked look when she turned her head to see Metabee standing near a tree and talking to Rokusho. From the frustrated way Rokusho seemed to be responding to something Metabee had said Sarah guessed that he was being given as hard a time by Metabee as she was being given by Ikki.

"Well, Rokusho is okay," Ikki said from behind Sarah. The blond just turned to him and raised her eyebrows, only to receive a sheepish smile in response.

"You going to tell me what's going on now? 'Cause I have a feeling it doesn't have to do with math homework."

"Metabee was supposed to have gotten Rokusho to the Hop Mart by now," Ikki confessed. "We were going to tell you guys about our idea there."

As Sarah began to do a passable impression of Erika while she yelled at Ikki for trying to drag her into another scheme of his, Rokusho finally spotted her. His first thought was to be relived that she was okay, his second was to wonder what Metabee was up to because he had just noticed Ikki standing near an angry Sarah.

"What is going on Metabee?" Rokusho asked.

"What're you talkin' about Rokusho?" Metabee asked innocently, darting a glance in the direction of Sarah and Ikki.

"I'm talking about you trying to get me to the Hop Mart and then Sarah showing up with Ikki, who I'm guessing is trying to get her to go to the same place."

"It's a coincidence," Metabee said lamely, not even getting his hopes up that the excuse would work on Rokusho. It was a good thing he had not expected his answer to work because Rokusho just shook his head before heading off in the direction of Sarah and Ikki. Baton, who had been sitting on a tree branch and watching Metabee and Rokusho argue, watched happily as Rokusho went off before following.

Sarah stopped yelling at Ikki when a mass of colorful feathers landed on the handle bars of her bike. "Hello Baton," she greeted, a bit surprised. "I didn't know you were here."

"Been here the whole time," Baton told her. Rokusho had finally reached them but he kept his distance as if he wasn't sure exactly what to do. Sarah looked over at him and smiled, bringing up one of her hands to give a small wave. Rokusho, much to her relief, nodded back in greeting, showing that he wasn't mad at her as she had begun to think he was. Although she wasn't all that sure why he would be mad at her…

"What is going on?" Rokusho asked Ikki.

"Yeah, I'd like to know that too," Sarah said.

Ikki looked over at Metabee, who had just reached the group, and sighed. "Looks like we'll have to tell them here Metabee."

"Yeah," Metabee agreed with a nod and sigh of his own.

"I'm not really sure where to start," Ikki told Sarah and Rokusho, shrugging.

"How about why you wanted us at the Hop Mart?" Sarah suggested snappishly.

"Well, you see, Metabee and I have this idea and we thought it would be easier to convince you two to go along with it if you were there," Ikki began. Sarah began to suspect some of what he was going to tell them after that statement but she continued to listen in the hopes that she was wrong.

"And what was this 'idea'?" Rokusho asked, also suspecting where Ikki was going with all of this.

"You both know the problems we're going to be having with that P.O.M group," Ikki said. "We're going to need everyone who can to join in the qualifying tournament so we have the best chances possible to make sure that none of the guys from that group get to the World Championships."

"Ikki, I think I know where you're going with this and the answer is no," Sarah said.

"Come one Sarah, just hear me out," Ikki said. Quickly, he continued to explain his idea. "Rokusho is a really strong medabot and you don't seem to be a bad medafighter Sarah, when you work with Rokusho. And since you don't have a medabot and Rokusho doesn't have a medafighter we thought…" he trailed off as both Sarah glared at him, eyes promising a painful demise should he continue.

"We thought," Metabee said, taking up where his scared medafighter had left off, "that you guys could join the tournament together. You two do make a good team."

"Not happenin'," Sarah said.

"I agree," Rokusho said, nodding his head.

"Why not you guys?" Metabee asked. He and Ikki both knew that if they could not convince Rokusho and Sarah to go through with their plan that the two would never join the tournament and he, Metabee, would never get his chance to robattle Rokusho.

Sarah, taking up the position of spokesperson for herself and Rokusho, began listing the exact reasons why not. "For one," she began, ticking the point off on her finger, "Rokusho does not like fighting normally. Two," another finger raised, "I couldn't register even if we agreed to your plan because I definitely can't put down any information about where I live. And three," another finger joined the first two, "if you two could some how work out how to get past the first two problems there is no way I could get to the place the tournament was being held, stay there long enough to participate and, here's the big part, not be found out."

Triumphantly Sarah held up the three fingers, the smile that had covered her face when she thought she had finally won the argument shrinking when Ikki took off his backpack and began digging through one of the pockets. The smile vanished completely when Ikki brought out a sheet of paper and, just as triumphantly as Sarah had held up her fingers, he showed the paper to Rokusho and Sarah.

Sarah scanned the almost completely filled out registration form, noting that the only blank places were for the name, the medabot serial number, and a few other bits of personal information like date of birth. Ikki and Metabee had apparently, Sarah realized with a sinking heart, already thought of at least some of the points she had made. She was beginning to suspect they had seen a way around the last point in her argument as well. But, if her grandmother even so much as found out she was thinking of some how joining this tournament she would be in so much trouble…

"Who's place is this?" Sarah asked after staring at the paper some more.

"Mine," Ikki told her. "My mom said it was fine and before you say anything this is allowed in the rules. The registration forms are really just to see how many people are joining and to know where to send them information about the tournament."

Sarah looked away from the paper and folded her arms. "Okay, fine, so you found a way around that. But that still leaves you with two problems to deal with, neither of which should be as easy to solve."

Ikki put the paper back in his backpack before turning, surprisingly, to Baton. "Baton, can I ask you a question?" Baton nodded his head, so Ikki continued. "Have you ever seen Rokusho robattle?"

"Yes," Baton answered, apparently not getting the fact that the looks he was receiving from Sarah and Rokusho meant he was supposed to shut up.

"And, when he robattles, is it normally to, I don't know, make sure people and or the world in general are safe," Ikki continued with his questioning.

"Yes," Baton said with a nod of his head. Sarah briefly considered shaking her bike so Baton would be forced to at least take to the air and shut up, if only for a little bit.

"And would you not consider that people and or the world in general are in danger because of this P.O.M group that Rokusho could help stop by joining the tournament."

"Yes, I would say people and or the world in general are in danger." Baton looked over at Rokusho as if to drive home some point in some argument they had been having earlier.

"And," Ikki said, driving home the final point in his argument, "would you not also say that the only way Rokusho could join this tournament and thus help is if he and Sarah worked together and joined?"

"Why, yes I would," agreed Baton, who, to Sarah, seemed to be getting some kind of sick pleasure out of the entire situation.

"There you go," Ikki said, indicating Baton to Sarah.

"That's just Baton's opinion," Sarah pointed out. "Rokusho, who would be the one doing all of the work, might not think that."

Everyone turned expectantly to look at Rokusho. "I can't exactly argue with what he said," Rokusho said in an almost apologetic tone to Sarah.

"I thought not," she said with a sigh. Still not willing to give up, she turned back to Ikki. "Fine, two down. There's one more left though."

"You remember Space Medafighter X, right?" Ikki asked. Sarah nodded reluctantly, so he continued. "Well, no one knew who he was and we can do the same with you, we just need to get you a disguise."

"What about me getting away for the tournament and stuff?" Sarah asked, beginning to become impressed at how well thought out the entire plan seemed to be.

"There's a science fair coming up soon and we have to participate for class. And you have to work with a partner. Can your grandmother argue if you need to meet up to work with your partner for a long time on the weekend, when it just so happens the tournament is being held?"

"How do you know the thing will be on a weekend?"

"I checked." Ikki neglected to mention that it actually started on a Thursday and went through the weekend, but that little fact could be brought up later.

"She'll call you know, to check up on me."

"We can work that out. Come on, I just thought of this yesterday."

Sarah sighed and looked over at Rokusho. Well, his one reason for not joining had been addressed as far as she knew and both of hers had. Now they both just had to agree to go through with the whole thing. Rokusho, after a brief pause, nodded his head slightly.

Sighing again, Sarah put out her hand. "Well, give me that form. And you're totally helping me come up with a fake name."

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AN: Hey guys, thanks for reading and reviewing so far. I'm sorry to tell you that I can't keep up with my once a week schedule of updating anymore. Things have been catching up with me so I haven't had a lot of time to write and this just so happens to be the last chapter I had written ahead of time. Don't worry, I'm still going to be updating (at least once a month, I promise), just no where near as frequently. Hopefully I can get enough written to go back to the once a week schedule, but until then I apologize. While I'm apologizing, sorry for Rokusho's increasing out of characterness. It's probably not going to stop, for which I also apoligize.


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

Sarah stood nervously near a wall, watching the people and medabots in the crowd pass by. Where was everyone? Ikki had told her they would all meet up before the opening ceremony at the tournament. Rokusho had said he would meet up with her there too so she was currently alone.

It was Thursday and through some random streak of luck it had turned out that there was no school that day or the next, resolving one of the major problems that had arisen with Sarah trying to participate in the tournament. Her grandmother had taken the science fair project excuse well enough and did not seem at all suspicious, although she had called once already. Luckily Sarah had been on the bus when her grandmother had called and there had not been a ton of background noise as there would be if her grandmother were to call at that moment.

Thinking about her grandmother, Sarah shifted nervously again, now checking for her grandmother out of the irrational fear that the old woman would somehow have shown up to watch the event. Reminding herself that her grandmother would not be there Sarah went back to searching the crowd for her friends. They needed to hurry up incase someone who wasn't supposed to know she was there spotted her.

She didn't even have her disguise on, although that was probably a good thing, since it would have attracted more attention to her than simply standing there nervously was. Her disguise, which was no more than a weird white mask that Henry had let her borrow and a cloak Karen had given her that looked like a black and bigger version of Rokusho's, was with Ikki at the moment. Keeping it in her own house was out of the question since her grandmother might find it and Sarah did not want to keep it in the shed since that would involve going there during the day to get it, which increased her chances of the shed being found out.

Still searching the crowd and still filled with nervous energy, Sarah reached up a hand to push her glasses up, remembering, when her hand met nothing but air, that she was wearing her contacts so she could wear the mask. Why had she told Ikki she owned contacts? The moment he found out he had insisted she wear them, ignoring her protests that she disliked have to use them since putting them in involved putting things uncomfortable close to her eyes.

"Ohmigod, Sarah, is that you?" came an exited female voice to the blonde's left. Turning with a sinking stomach, Sarah was met by the sight of happily waving teen her age, pushing through the crowd in Sarah's direction, her medabot following closely behind.

The girl, around Sarah's height with shoulder length black hair and the complexion of someone who spent a lot of time in the sun, rushed over and gave Sarah a hug, practically squealing with delight. "Ohmigod," the girl said again, finally releasing Sarah from her hug, "Sarah, you are so seriously the last person I would ever expect to see here. I almost didn't recognize you since I'm so used to seeing you with glasses."

"Nice to see you too Kira," Sarah greeted her with a smile. Kira had been one of Sarah's close friends when she had been living in Tokyo and the two had stayed in touch through email, as Sarah did with most of her friends once she moved. She had of course not informed Kira she would be at the tournament and in all honesty the thought of running into her had never crossed her mind.

"It's nice to see you again Sarah," Kira's medabot, Hopstar, greeted. Hopstar, a bunny type medabot with a specialty in hand combat, was of the same model used by a member of Team Sweden in the World Robattle Cup six years ago and happened to be the voice of reason when it came to her often overzealous medafighter.

"Good to see you're doin' okay Hopstar," Sarah said, shaking the medabot's hand with a smile. "What are you guys doin' here? Trying to get into the World Championships isn't exactly what I'd call your thing Kira."

"I could ask the same of you coming here. Did that old hag you call a grandmother finally come to her senses?" Kira looked around the crowd as if expecting to see the wrinkled face of Sarah's grandmother to appear. "You just here to watch or did you finally get a medabot?"

Sarah shuffled her feet nervously, looking down at the ground. "I, um, that is to say…"

"You so totally snuck here!" Kira exclaimed, continuing her exited chatter at a lower volume when some people glanced in their direction. "I'm so proud of you. After what happened back in Tokyo I thought you'd never show that witch any backbone again. Try not to get caught though, she'll go even more ballistic on you."

"Don't I know it," Sarah said with a bitter laugh.

"I was considering finding your new address and coming to kidnap you so you could watch, but Hopstar persuaded me otherwise," Kira admitted happily. "Dad, he's here to cheer me on, was totally for the idea too. You know Hopstar though, such a spoilsport." Kira pouted in the direction of her medabot while Sarah just gave Hopstar a sympathetic look. Kira and her medabot were good friends but the teen's antics could be very trying for the more down to earth Hopstar, who, much to the appreciation of Kira's parents, did what she could to keep the girl out of trouble.

"So, your dad's here? What about the rest of your family?"

"Mom couldn't get off work, plus someone needed to stay and watch my little brother. He's only in elementary as you remember, I'm sure, and Mom and Dad won't let him in the tournament."

"Oh, so he was able to get a medabot," Sarah commented, keeping her face neutral.

Kira, who might as well have been bouncing up and down with all of the energy she had been displaying moments before, suddenly sobered up. "Yeah, a Churlybear if you can believe it. Those two are really tight now and Mom and Dad like knowing there's somebody to keep an eye on him when they can't. I'm supposed to tell you thanks but I keep forgetting when I email you."

"No problem, I'm just glad that medal ended up the way it did compared to, you know, the alternative."

"Sorry you couldn't be the one to keep it," Kira said, giving Sarah a sympathetic hug.

"Well, it was give it to a friend or let it get smashed by my grandmother. I just couldn't see that happen and you just happened to be the only one with a family member who needed a medabot and medal," Sarah told her awkwardly when Kira released her from the hug.

"So," Kaira said, her energy back, "you want to sit by my Dad and watch this tournament? You know you're such a hit with my parents and he probably wants to thank you in person."

"Nah, I'm waiting for some friends to show up. They're supposed to meet me around here soon. By the way, you've yet to tell me why you two joined this thing."

"To set a good example for my little brother," Kira told her seriously. "He's really serious about being a really good medafighter and I want to show him that he can try out for this sort of thing. You know, if big sister can do it so can you sort of thing. Plus," Kira smiled widely, "I want a chance to meet Ikki and Koji since they are so totally going to be here."

Sarah gulped and looked over Kira's shoulder, now thankful Ikki and everyone else had yet to show up. She most definitely did not need to deal with Kira fangirling over Ikki and Koji once they showed up. It was around that time that Sarah's luck decided things had been going just a little too smoothly and thought it would be fun to mess with her. At least, that was the only explanation that Sarah could come up with as to why everyone she had been planning on seeing there showed up at that moment.

"Hey, Sarah," Ikki called, making his way through the crowd towards her. He was followed by Metabee and Rokusho, Erika and Brass close behind. Karen, Koji, and their medabots were no where in sight, a small miracle Sarah was thankful for.

Kira turned around at the sound of someone from behind calling Sarah. The moment she saw who it was she excitedly grasped Sarah's arm in a vice like grip and gave a small squeal of delight. "Ohmigod, ohmigod, ohmigod! Sarah, you know Ikki Tenryou? And you didn't tell me?" Kira whispered this all excitedly as Ikki and the rest neared. Hopstar just sighed, shaking her head in exasperation.

"I never thought to tell you," Sarah told her truthfully. "Sorry."

"I bet you didn't even recognize him right away," Kira commented, nearly hyperventilating.

"I didn't. Look, I'll introduce you, just don't start freaking out on me okay? I know how you get when you're overexcited."

"Promise, promise. No freaking out in front of hot medafighter. Got it."

"Your hormones embarrass me sometimes," Sarah told her quietly. Before Kira could retort, Ikki had arrived.

"Who's this?" he asked Sarah, looking questioningly at Kira, whose grip on Sarah's arm had tightened considerably and was staring at Ikki wide-eyed.

"One of my friend's from Tokyo. Kira, this is Ikki, Ikki, this is Kira."

"Nice to meet you Kira," Ikki greeted. "You here for the tournament?" he asked when he spotted Hoopstar. Kira just nodded, her grip now reaching a level that Sarah was sure would leave bruises.

"Oh, and this is Metabee, Rokusho, Erika, and Brass," Sarah indicated everyone with her free hand and they all greeted Kira pleasantly.

"So, you knew Sarah back in Tokyo?" Ikki asked.

"Yeah," Kira answered, much calmer than Sarah had expected. "I'm surprised you guys were able to get her here, what with her grandmother and all."

"It was a bit difficult," Ikki admitted. "Hey, we'll meet you over there Sarah, so you can talk to your friend some more." Indicating where they where heading, Ikki lead the group off, although Rokusho stayed behind.

"Who's medabot is Rokusho?" Kira asked quietly as the white medabot struck up a conversation with Hopstar.

"They're not here yet," Sarah told her, eyes skimming the crowd.

"I've seen you lie enough to know when you're doing it," Kira told her friend sternly. "But I'm not going to press it this time. I'll see you later, okay?"

"I'm here for the whole tournament," Sarah told her.

"Cool, I'll see you around then." Noticing the two were done talking, the medabots stopped their conversation and Hopstar followed Kira away into the crowd.

"She seemed nice," Rokusho commented as they walked in the direction of Ikki and the rest.

"She is, although she can be a bit excitable at times."

"So her medabot told me."

"Hey, where's Baton?" Sarah suddenly asked, noticing the parrot's absence.

"He said he would show up with Dr. Aki later. We'd better hurry," Rokusho added, "the others seem rather impatient." Upon Rokusho's suggestion, the two hurried up to meet up with the rest of their group. The moment they met up, Ikki handed Sarah a paper grocery bag.

"Here, hurry up and go put it on."

"Can it wait at all? I feel ridiculous wearing it," Sarah complained. When the bag was simply shaken in her direction Sarah sighed and took it before heading off in the direction of the woman's restrooms.

Later, Sarah found herself hiding in a shadowy corner of the waiting room for her block with the other medafighters, waiting for her turn to come up. She had received a few curious looks but that was about all. Luckily, she hadn't run into Kira again once she had put her disguise on.

Sarah tugged nervously at the lining of the cloak she was wearing, waiting for when she would have to go up. She felt ridicules in the entire get up and wanted to get the entire thing over with, so she could take it off. Her hair was up in a bun that Karen had showed her how to do when Sarah had refused to wear a hat with the getup.

"Nervous?" Rokusho asked as Sarah continued to fidget.

Sarah just nodded, her throat dry as she thought about what she was doing. She hadn't ended up in a block with anyone who was supposed to know she was there and was all alone besides Rokusho. Metabee had been greatly disappointed when they had found this out, even more so when it turned out he wasn't in the same block as Sumilidon either.

"Everything will be fine," Rokusho told her reassuringly.

Oh, God, what was she doing here? Sarah found herself wondering suddenly. They could have gotten anyone to pose at Rokusho's medafighter, why did it have to be her? It wasn't like he needed her or anything to fight, although everyone had told her she seemed to have a knack for coming up with strategies.

Sarah's cell phone began vibrating in the pocket of the dark jeans she was wearing under the cloak. Jumping slightly in surprise, Sarah took it out and groaned slightly when she saw the caller ID. Of all the times for her grandmother to call…

"Hello?" Sarah answered the phone as she tried to sink deeper into the shadows of her corner.

"Just calling to check up on you," came her grandmother's voice from over the phone. "Where are you right now?"

"I'm at Ikki's house, like I told you I'd be," Sarah said in exasperation.

"I'd like to talk to his parents, just to make sure."

"Well, we're kinda doin' something important for our project and I can't just drop it all to bring them the phone, can you call their house number and talk to them there. I know I gave it to you."

"Okay, I'll call you back after I talk to them." There was a click and the phone went dead. With a sigh, Sarah closed the phone, glad that they had actually thought of this happening when they had been planning on how to get past her grandmother. They had asked Ikki's mother, a woman who Sarah liked despite the fact she seemed a bit out there, to act as if Sarah really were at her house working on a science fair project with Ikki. Ikki's mother had agreed happily, treating the entire thing like some kind of big game.

She must have played the game correctly because a few minutes later Sarah's grandmother called back and informed Sarah she believed her and would be calling back later to check up on her. Sarah closed her phone and put it back in her pocket gratefully, knowing she had to thank Ikki's mother profusely once this was all over with.

"Just need to hope she doesn't call during our match now," Sarah said quietly to Rokusho.

"I'm guessing you have left that particular part up to luck," Rokusho commented.

"Didn't have much of a choice, we couldn't figure out what to do if she called."

"I'm sure things will work out," Rokusho told her, trying to be reassuring.

"I hope so," Sarah commented as her nerves began to come back.

Time seemed to go by slowly as Sarah and Rokusho waited to be called up. Names of other medafighters were called over the speaker system, people leaving excitedly with their medabots when their turn came up. Apparently this had been named the block to be in since neither of the previous world champions were in it and everyone was feeling particularly hopeful about their chances of winning. Everyone except a certain masked figure in the back of the room that is.

Sarah had, unknown to her, attracted a bit more attention than she thought. All of the other medafighters had taken a moment or two at some point to stare at the masked figure in the black cloak in the back of the room, occasionally whispering something to the white medabot that stood in contrast next to it. The hair wrapped up into a tight bun made some believe the figure was a girl, although when some contestants talked about the figure quietly there was some doubt of this. They were wondering just who the person could be when a name was called over the speakers and the figure began to head for the door.

"…And Konchen, please report to the arena."

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AN: Yeah, so, here's the chapter…sorry it took so long and turned out so short. Sarah's alias is sort of lame, for which I also apologize. If any of you know the word I used though, kudos. Anyway, I'll try to get the next chapter up soon, but the way things are going, it probably won't happen. Thanks to everyone who reads and everyone who reviews. I appreciate all of you taking your time to do so and for putting up with my increasingly erratic schedule.


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